New Beginnings
by SteamRail74
Summary: Life changes greatly when one reaches College age. And a recent High-school graduate by the name of Marcus Coleman, along with his medabot, Aimflash, are about to find out how true those words are. New beginnings, new friends, new places, new concepts, but one thing is for certain- College is certainly more than one makes it out to be…
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, Steam here with my THIRD published fanfic for you guys to enjoy. Unlike my previous two, this one is not a crossover. It's just a plain Medabots fic with no canon characters. Hope you enjoy.**

**Credit to Natsume for Medabots, me for everyone else, and I greatly appreciate reviews- so please leave one.**

**One more note- I would like to thank Omegaxis1 for temporarily providing his services as a Beta Reader, and I also want to thank AproposFool89 for Beta Reading as well. Hope to work with ya in the future with this fic. :D**

**Chapter 1 is told from Marcus's Point of View by the way.**

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**Chapter 1**

I honestly can't believe it. I made it to College. There have been times where I thought this would never happen, yet here I am, coming up to the gates of Shotown University. It wasn't necessarily the IT College I wanted to go to, but it was one in the list of ones that I sent my scores to; plus getting the full-ride scholarship as a benefit. So long story short, I graduated High School, though barely, moved out of the house, and getting ready to move into one of the dorms on campus. Mom and Dad were especially upset when I moved out, but thankfully I'm not alone. I got my partner and best pal in the world, Aimflash, coming with me. Aim and I have been partners since I was eight years old; where Mom and Dad gave him to me as a birthday present. Since then we've been best pals in the world. Technically medabots weren't allowed on the Shotown U campus grounds, but after enough students protested against that rule last year, they eventually lifted the ban and said that medabots were allowed, as long as they stayed out of trouble and refrained from robattling on the campus grounds. Honestly that last part kinda sucked, because I've been really looking forward to meeting any new potential opponents for me and Aim. Ah well, at least Aim was still able to come here with me in the end.

Aimflash and I were ones of the last to get off the bus, as we had a little trouble getting my luggage out of the seat that held it in place. But after we entered the campus grounds, we followed everyone else towards the main building.

"Gotta say Chief," Aimflash started as he looked around, "This place is huge."

"Got that right," I chuckled, "But it'll definitely be a new start and a new chapter in life."

"For sure. So you have any idea on where we're moving into?"

I looked at the paper in my hand that held most of the last-minute notes I scribbled before I headed out the door this morning.

"Uhh…" I answered, "Not that I can see. Maybe they'll tell us when we get inside."

"Possible."

As we neared the main entrance, both Aim and I looked around to see countless students sitting around and chatting casually; along with an almost equal amount of medabots to be seen everywhere else. This was good. This meant more challengers for me and Aim to beat. Back in our home neighborhood we were known as the Untouchables since no one could match our awesome strategies or outdo them. When the word that Aim and I were leaving spread throughout the neighborhood, almost all the little kid's hearts broke since their 'guardians' were going away. Heh… Guardians… Yup, that's what Aim and I were called by all the little kids we stood up for.

When Aim and I entered the doors, this really cute girl walked up to us from outta nowhere.

"Hi," She greeted, "Welcome to Shotown University."

"Uh, thanks." I returned.

"Can I get your name please?"

"Marcus Coleman."

She looked through the list of names on a clipboard she was carrying.

"Let's see… Coleman… Coleman… Aha! Here you are."

She looked back at me as she handed me a green hexagonal patch.

"You're in the Theodra Beryl Dorms." She said.

"Theodra Beryl," Aimflash repeated, "As in the Emerald type Medabot?"

"That's right," She nodded, "See after the Dean lifted the ban on medabots here on campus, he decided to try a new format for assigning students to dorms and categorizing them with the names of the Gem Medabots series; figuring that it he couldn't beat 'em he'd join 'em."

"So there would also be a Pigeon Blood, Hardness Ten, Almandine, and Blue Corundum Dorms?" I asked.

"Aren't you the smart one," She teased, "But yes, that would be correct."

"Alright then, so what's the number on this patch for?"

She glimpsed at the number forty-seven sewn on it in black.

"That's your dorm number. So anyone else that has a Theodra Beryl patch with a forty-seven on it are the people you'll be sharing rooms with."

"I see," I nodded, "Thank you."

"No problem," She smiled, "And don't forget, all students have an orientation meeting in two hours in the main assembly hall."

I said thank you once again as Aim and I started off for the Theodra Beryl dorms. Thankfully there were signs every so often with floor maps that made everything easier, and Aimflash's photographic memory and viewfinder made it even easier to make it to the dorms. Looking at the patch again to check what number room we were in, we climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, with all our luggage in tow, and searched the hallway for the our room number. After finding it a couple minutes later, we stopped to take a breath.

"Well, this is it Chief," Aimflash told me, "Whoever's behind this door is who we're going to be paired with for the next few years."

"I know," I shrugged, "So let's keep our fingers crossed for good roommates."

Taking another breath, I knocked on the door. A duo of "it's open" called back through the door as we went ahead and entered. As we closed the door behind us, two heads popped from around the corner to see who it was. Both were guys, who seemed so much like clones it was scary. Twins perhaps? Both were dressed in a white button-down with denim jeans and brown vest and boots. What set them apart however was that one wore a red bandana around his neck, while the other wore a blue one.

"Hi!" The one wearing the blue bandana greeted happily, "You our roommate?"

"That I am," I returned, "And you two are mine?"

"Got that right," The other answered, "Who might you be?"

"I'm Marcus. Marcus Coleman. And this is my partner, Aimflash."

Aimflash waved his left arm in a friendly manner.

"Nice to meet ya Marcus," The first one replied, "I'm Inyo Truckee, and this is my twin brother, Reno Truckee."

I knew I thought right when I guessed they were twins.

"Glad to see we have a fellow medafighter to share a room with." Reno grinned as he looked back around the corner, "RANGER, TONTO, COME ON DOWN AND MEET OUR NEW ROOMMATES."

Two pairs of mechanical feet walked down the short hallway to meet us. Much like Inyo and Reno were twins, their medabots were twins as well, Ragna6 LF and Ragna6 RF.

"The white one's Ranger," Reno explained, "He's my bot. The black one's Tonto, and he belongs to Inyo."

"Guys," Inyo took over, "This is Marcus and Aimflash, they're our roommates."

"Pleasured to make your acquaintance." Ranger said.

"Likewise Kemosabe." Tonto added.

"Uhh…" I started, though couldn't help but grin, "You two wouldn't be fans of the Lone Ranger by any chance, would you?"

Inyo laughed, "Not very obvious is it?"

We all then laughed.

"But yeah, Inyo and I are huge fans; and as such named out twin medabots after the famous duo when we were little, and the names stuck ever since."

"But hey, it fits." Ranger, who was the white-on-black Right Form of Ragna6, shrugged, "And you won't get any complaints from me."

"Neither from here," Tonto, who was the black-on-white Left Form of Ragna6, added, "And Ranger is right, it fits well."

Inyo looked at our bags.

"You need a hand moving in?"

"If you don't mind."

"Not at all," He laughed as he took one from me, "Lemme take this one and show ya to your room."

I suddenly had a double-take moment.

"Wait, MY room?"

"Yup." Reno nodded, "Each dorm has two rooms, a bathroom, a living room/kitchenette mix, and a smaller bonus room; all to do with whatever we please, under certain guidelines of course."

"Sweeet!" I said, "This is gonna be awesome."

"You said it Chief." Aimflash added as Inyo show us to our room.

It was largely empty, with a single bed, desk, nightstand, and dresser being the only pieces of furniture in the room. After Aim and I were finished renovating though, it was going to be the most epic room in the history of rooms in College dorms. Well, not really, but I can dream can't I?

"Hold on a sec," I started, thinking of my twin roommates, "What about you and your brother?"

"We share one room." Inyo explained, "Always have since we were little. We alternate who gets the bed, and the other sleeps on the floor with a sleeping bag."

"Makes sense if you think about it." Aimflash agreed, "So Marcus, what say we get unpacked so we can relax before the orientation meeting?"

"Hate to break it to you Kemosabe," Tonto started as he entered the room and joined us, "But we medabots don't have to attend the orientation."

"Ah, well in that case let's get unpacked so MARCUS can relax before the meeting."

"Hey," I nagged, "Whatever happened to sticking together?"

"You know I was kidding, right?"

"And you know I was giving you a hard time, right?"

Inyo couldn't help but laugh.

"You two are like brothers." He chuckled, "Sorry, it was just too funny right there."

We all shared a laugh as I looked around the place I would be calling home for the next four years.

"Well I'll leave ya alone to unpack," Inyo finished, "If you need anything feel free to holler."

"Will do, thanks Reno."

"Um… I'm Inyo."

D'oh… Not even ten minutes after meeting them and I already have their names confused. It should be a law or something that even identical twins should have different faces; because I suck at remembering names, let alone putting faces to names.

"Sorry Inyo."

"Ah don't worry about it," He laughed, "Happens all the time."

He and Tonto left us alone and closed the door behind them.

"Not even ten minutes." Aimflash chuckled, reading my mind.

"The two are like clones!" I retorted, "Gimme a break."

"What a nice way to finish a first impression."

"Will you just shut it?"

"This is just too funny of a scoop to pass up."

"I mean it!"

"Just wait 'til Mom hears about this."

"AIMFLASH!"

"Ok ok, I'm only kidding…Jeez…"

Yeah, sure you're kidding Aim. Cuz I know that the first time I open up Skype to talk to my folks, you're gonna open your voice circuits and tell 'em all about this and everything else embarrassing that happened while we're here. Yeah, I have such a dependable and trustworthy partner to tell all my secrets and screw-ups to, ain't he the best? And I was being sarcastic in case you didn't realize. Either way, we both shrugged it off like the laid-back guys we were and started unpacking the suitcases. Thankfully all my clothes fit into the dresser and closet with a little room left over, plus I was able to display some of my awesome knickknacks I brought just to make it feel more like home. The last thing I pulled out was a portrait Mom snuck into my suitcase at the last minute. It was a picture of me, Aimflash, and my folks from summer of last year. That was a good summer though, until my supposed best friend next to Aim stabbed me in the back. Aimflash caught 'em doing… things of the illegal nature… and had photographic proof to back up his claim, being a camera type. I confronted him about it and found that he had been doin' that stuff for years and didn't tell me about it. So we fought, exchanged a few punches, and never saw each other's faces again. Yeah it hurt to have that happen and lose who I thought was a friend, but I thankfully had Aim there to stand up with me. So yeah, story of my life. About forty-five minutes passed before everything was unpacked and the suitcases were stowed away in the closet and out of the way. Aim and I left the room to find Inyo and Reno relaxing in the living area playing cards. Reno looked up to see me walking down the short hallway.

"All unpacked?" He asked.

"Yup." I answered as I headed for the kitchenette.

"That's good," Inyo added, "So I figure that we should head down to the main assembly hall early to get good seats. Anyone second the notion?"

"Sound good to me." Reno shrugged.

"Same here." I agreed as I closed the fridge door, "And thankfully we have a few days before classes start, cuz we need to stock up on supplies."

"We already planned to do that tomorrow."

"Ah, alright. So we gonna head out?"

"Don't see why not." Inyo replied as he put his cards down on the table.

Reno put his cards down and looked at what was in Inyo's hand as he got up.

"Alright now," He said, "Tell me how you got those four aces and I not know about it?"

Inyo, apparently being the funny one of the duo, simply waved his hands in the air.

"Magic." He said.

"You guys take care." Aimflash said as the twins and I started for the door.

Reno closed the door behind him as we headed down the hall and flight of stairs to the first floor. We stopped and looked at a map a couple times just to make sure we were going the right way, but ya know you can easily lose your way when fighting through a crowd of other students going in the same and opposite directions at the same time. Eventually we found the main assembly hall to already find many of the seats full. We quickly made our way to some seats about midway into the middle section. Of course, we just happened to find the section that was just above all the noisy jocks. I mean don't get me wrong there's nothin' wrong with jocks, cuz if robattling was a sport I'd be one too, but it's the way they act that bugs me. They act like they're all that and a bag of chips, and they make sure that EVERYONE in the school knows it. They hoot and holler and act like the bunch of monkeys they are. I honestly don't know what most girls see in guys like that, but if all girls want is a sports yahoo that knows nothing outside of Tackle, Flagged, and Touchdown, then I highly doubt a girl's ever gonna find me interesting. So this whole horde of jocks takes all the sections from the one in front of me and the twins all the way down to the front row. In the section next to them were all the cheerleaders. Now please don't get me started on the cheerleaders, cuz most of my opinions on them, if said aloud, would get me slapped silly. But to keep it simple, kinda like the jocks, but only female and with pretty faces. Over on the other side of the assembly hall seemed to be where all the nerds gathered; or at least the smart ones that figure that they had no chance with the cheerleaders. Then there were all the rest that sat scattered in the remaining seats. Eventually the hall quieted down as the Dean approached the stage and podium. He was a fairly tall guy dressed in a very nice navy blue suit with a red tie.

"Hello," He called though the mic, "I would first like to say how pleased I am to see all the new faces here at Shotown U, as well as several returning ones. To those of you that don't know me, I am Professor Bobby Carlisle, the Dean of this University. So with that said, I want to go over a few rules regarding conduct on campus grounds. The first and foremost rule, is under no circumstances are there to be any robattles taking place on campus grounds or outside of designated areas. There is a gymnasium designated for anyone that must robattle on the grounds, but otherwise please wait until you leave campus grounds to battle. You and your opponent can certainly wait five minutes to find a park or empty road to battle on. The other rule, on the topic of medabots and robattling, is that no medabots are allowed to be left alone or roam freely without proper consent and reason for doing so."

Dean Carlisle continued farther on about rules like curfew being at 11:00pm on weekdays and midnight on weekends, no one being allowed to roam campus grounds outside of curfew, et cetera. The basic rules of how to be a Good College Student and Not Get in Trouble, nothing special. The meeting ended about an hour and a half later as everyone started piling out and filling the hallways once again. Reno suggested we wait a few minutes to let the chaos in the corridors calm down a bit before they started back for our dorm. I gotta say, if Inyo's the funny and outgoing twin, Reno seems to be the cool and laid-back one. Nothin' wrong with that if you ask me, just makes it easier to tell the two apart for later reference. Eventually the crowds thinned out enough that we could make a good pace back to our dorm without being stopped in the middle of traffic. As I stood up to leave however, the Dean called out to me. Oh great, I haven't even started classes and I'm already in trouble. Whatever he thinks I did, I'm tellin' ya I didn't do it. So taking a breath I turned around and met the Dean next to the front row chairs.

"Whatever you think I did," I started, "I didn't do it."

"Don't be silly Mr. Coleman," Dean Carlisle laughed, "I only wanted to ask you something."

Whew, so I'm not in trouble. But what could he want to ask me? And how did he know who I am? Oh yeah, we're all wearing nametags.

"Alright," I said, "So what's up?"

"See I'm getting ready to set up an extra-curricular class for anyone interested, but I wanted to have a trial-run of the class this semester, you understand?"

I nodded. Great, and he's gonna ask me if I'm up for doing more homework than what I already will have assigned. Well if that be the case then I'll just respectfully decline. Nothing wrong with that, right? No shame in saying no.

"Excellent." The Dean continued, "So this class is going to be a workshop on medabot mechanics and robattle strategies. Would you be interested in attending the trial-semester?"

Whoa… Hold on a second. Did I hear him right? Was he offering me to get in on a class I didn't sign up for? One that ACTUALLY will be interesting? Didn't see that one coming.

"As a benefit," He continued, "Since it is a science class of sorts, I will count this class as official credit hours even though it's still not an official class yet."

This deal's getting better and better. I actually wasn't able to enroll in a science class here this term since they all were full at the time, but the Dean here is offering me a free pass into a, quote, 'science' course with not having to pay a cent! Plus this class will be the easiest A I will have ever received in my life. This deal is just TOO good to pass up, there's no way I'm gonna let this one slide right by me.

"Well if that be the case," I said at last, "Then sign me up."

"I had a feeling you would say that," He grinned, "I will ask one thing of you however."

"And what's that?"

"Please keep this hush hush. This class is still in the trail-run period and I want to ensure that all works well and smoothly before I officially announce the class next semester."

"You got it." I smirked, "My lips are sealed. I will ask though, are there any other students in on this class?"

"A few so far, yes, but I don't want to go over twenty or so students at this point."

"Understandable."

"Well, thank you very much for your participation, and I'll be sure to have a message sent to your email regarding the official start date of this class."

"Got it, I'll keep an eye out."

"Much appreciated. And remember."

He held a finger to his lips.

I nodded back as I started up the stairs and for the hallway. Holy…stinkin'…cow… I just got offered a class by the Dean himself that I can ace with my eyes closed! This may be a great first year after all. I had a feeling it was going to be, but it certainly got better. I quickly made my way to the Theodra Beryl dorms and to my room. Either of the twins must have locked the door, because Inyo unlocked it for me and let me in.

"Where'd you disappear to?" He asked jovially, "Reno and I thought we lost ya in the crowds."

"Nah, the Dean just wanted to talk to me about something."

"Ah, and how'd that go?"

The excitement in me started bubbling, and it became hard to keep subdued.

"It went alright," I said, "Just wanted to reiterate on a couple rules is all."

"Alrighty then. Well tomorrow we're headin' into town to stock up on food and whatnot so we can get started and get comfortable before classes start. Sound like a plan?"

"Sure thing, what time are we gonna head out?"

"Figure no later than noon."

That should work fine by me; I'm somewhat of an early waker, though just not fully functional until about 10:30 in the morning.

"Sounds like a plan to me."

"Great," Inyo grinned, "Well I just wanted to let ya in on what'll be goin' on is all."

"Glad you did, thanks."

"No prob Marcus."

I headed to my room to find Aimflash sitting on the bed waiting for me.

"So how'd it go?" He greeted.

I was careful to close the door before I answered him.

"What's with all the suspicion?" He asked, "Did you murder somebody or something?"

"No, just got the greatest news on the planet." I responded.

"And that would be?"

"A class with an easy A."

"Ah, ok. What class?"

"That's the best part. The Dean personally called me aside and asked if I wanted to be in the class, and he said that it counted for official credit hours; even though it's a trial-run class that'll officially start next semester."

"Dude, you still haven't told me what class it is yet."

"It's a workshop on medabot mechanics and robattle strategies."

"WHOA!" He wailed in awe, "Sweeeet!"

I quickly hushed him and made sure no one was listening outside the door.

"The Dean only asked that we keep it quiet until he officially announces the class next semester."

"Ok, makes sense. So you got in the trial-semester?"

"Yup."

"Awesome-ness."

"I know, right? Just remember."

I help up a finger to my lips.

He held one of the legs of the tripod that was his left arm to just below his optical visor to show that we agreed. We then left the room to go relax for the evening with the twins and their medabots. I gotta say, it still feels weird that I'm staying in a dorm here on campus and I'm far from home, but I'm sure I'll get used to it with time. About two hours passed as we played cards. Gotta say, those twins know like fifty different ways to play cards and win at all of 'em; even the ones that they say they're not good at. So after my millionth loss, they decided to play mercy rule and call it a night. Really? You choose to do mercy rule now and not like thirty minutes ago? Ah well, such is life. Both Inyo and Reno bid me and Aim goodnight as their medabots followed them into their room. Feeling a little tired myself from the long day of traveling and unpacking in a new place, I decided to call it a night myself. Aim followed me as I closed the door behind him and then changed into some sleep shorts. After making my bed real quick and tossing my pillow on it, I collapsed on it and sighed heavily. The bed wasn't as comfy as mine at home, but it'll do.

"Interesting first day," Aim started as he sat in a corner and got comfortable, "Huh Chief?"

"I'll say," I responded, "And it's a good thing classes don't start until next week."

"Give you time to prepare."

"Sure does."

I looked at the alarm clock I brought with me to find the time being around a quarter 'til ten at night. Meh, still necessarily early for me to be hittin' the sack, but it WAS a long day. See I'm one of those guys that don't actually get to sleep until around midnight, but I'm also usually up and moving by around seven or eight in the morning. And here's another thing, I have an opinion about alarm clocks alright? Am I the only one that fails to use the 'alarm' in the alarm clock? No? Good, then I'm not alone. So yeah, I have a pretty good sleep schedule; and thankfully it shouldn't interfere with any of my classes since all my scheduled classes are either around noon or sometime after. And with one to two classes a day from Monday to Friday, I should have plenty of time to balance life, school, and robattling. That's something else I wanna check tomorrow- where this 'robattle designated' gymnasium is and how to get to it. If I'm gonna keep with Aim and I's training, it'll be important to know in the case we can't leave campus grounds. Ah well, such is life. I grabbed my phone from the charger and sent a quick text to my folks to let them know that Aim and I made it fine and we're all unpacked. Mom responded a minute later as I checked the message and put my phone back on the nightstand. It wasn't much longer before I took a deep breath and eventually drifted to sleep. Well day one at College was a success, now only to wonder about how day two will be. Ya know what? Scratch that, I'm not gonna worry about it cuz I know that it'll be just fine.

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**Ahh, the first day of College under the belt. So far been a pretty good day for Marcus and Aimflash, especially meeting their twin roommates, Inyo and Reno. With this said, and knowing all that took place, what'll happen tomorrow? The only way would be to read on and find out for yourself.**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated, so please leave one.**

**MORE MEDABOTS, MORE POWER!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, Steam here. Well I'm here with an update, obviously, so I hope you enjoy it.**

**Medabots go to Natsume, me for everyone else, and please leave a review.**

**I also want to thank AproposFool89 for Beta Reading for me.**

**This chapter is told from Aimflash's POV**

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**Chapter 2**

Being the early bird between me and Marcus, I reactivated around 6:30 in the morning. Deciding to leave Chief to sleep a little longer, I quietly exited the room and closed the door behind me; making sure to keep my optical visor dimmed so the light didn't wake him up. Before you ask, yes, I am very adept at opening and closing doors without the use of hands. See my whole right arm is shaped like a very large camera viewfinder. It may not look like much, but it's actually a really powerful laser attack. I can't tell ya how many opponents I beat with one shot from this bad boy, heh heh. My left arm on the other hand is modeled after a tripod, and it's my only arm that has an elbow joint. It's much weaker than my viewfinder laser, but I can lay in a good Gatling gun combo with it. I learned at some point that I could open the legs on the tripod and use them as fingers of sorts, though only for like grabbing large things. Smaller stuff will require Marcus to transport an arm with a proper hand on it. So I headed down the hall to the living area to already find Inyo and Reno wide awake and keeping themselves occupied.

"Mornin," Inyo greeted, "Marcus awake too?"

"Not yet," I replied, "Chief may be an early bird, but anything before 7:00 in the morning and you can forget about getting him outta bed."

"Alrighty, no need to worry; we're not leaving for town for a few hours at least."

"Oh he'll definitely be up before then. He's usually really good on getting up and getting ready in the morning."

I decided to look around the rest of the dorm and get a good idea on what's where. Next to the bonus room on the other side of the dorm was Inyo and Reno's room, and I found Ranger and Tonto still in sleep mode inside, and a closet across the door.

"Hey Aimflash." Reno started, "That huge right arm of yours ever get tiresome to carry around? It's awfully large."

"Not at all." I responded confidently, "It's actually lighter than you think. Plus I've synced my whole sense of balance to it, so anything else and I kinda make an awkward lean to the left."

"Alright then, I was just curious is all since I haven't really seen a model like you before."

"Well just so ya know, it's not that tiresome to carry."

"But don't ya ever have trouble without having actual hands?" Inyo then asked me.

"On the contrary," I stated, "I've had no trouble at all with things like that."

"Interesting."

"Sure is."

About thirty-five minutes passed before Chief finally woke up and hazily limped to the kitchenette, only to half-remember that we had no food yet. He moaned a bit in disappointment before shrugging it off and greeting us with a half-awake grin and wave. He then started back for our room to grab some clothes and a towel and hop into the shower. I could read Chief like a book and knew his morning routine like the underside of my viewfinder laser, but partners can do that when they've been together for years. Chief's first action is to get breakfast. If he can't get breakfast, he goes straight for the shower and gets breakfast after. Another twenty minutes passed before Marcus emerged from the steamy bathroom with a towel around his damp head. Inyo and Reno aroused Ranger and Tonto as Marcus joined us in the main living area.

"So we headin' out?" He asked.

"Don't see why not," Reno shrugged, "Everyone's together and we're all set."

"Great," Inyo added, "Then let's get going."

Reno stopped us all.

"Before I forget," He said as he handed a room key to Inyo and another to Marcus, "Wanted to pass these out so we all can get back here anytime."

"Well having a key would certainly help." Marcus jested as we walked out and locked the door behind us.

We all headed down to the main lobby and picked up a couple town maps to have on hand when we left. As we exited the campus grounds, we decided to take a left and see what was down that side of the street. I took a glimpse of the street sign and saved to my memory banks that the campus is on West End Street. I do this sort of thing all the time; I AM a camera type medabot after all. I looked up to see that it was a very nice midmorning with very few clouds in the sky. Inyo pointed out some of the restaurants we saw as we passed them, as I made a photographic memory to keep on hand for future reference. Taking all these pictures suddenly made me remember that I haven't taken any pictures of Chief since we got here; and Mom specifically told me to take pictures to send back. I better do that real quick and have at least one.

"Hey guys," I said as they looked back at me, "Say cheese."

I held up my viewfinder and snapped a picture of Chief, Inyo, and Reno looking at me.

"Perfect," I said, "We can carry on now."

Chief gave me a look as he knew why I did what I did. Eventually we hit an intersection and found a medaparts shop nestled on the adjacent street. I knew for a fact when I caught sight of it that Chief saw it first, and the look in his eye when I looked back at him verified my claim.

"Looks like we found Chief's favorite place to hang out." I joked.

"Darn right," Marcus agreed, "I wonder if they're hiring part time…"

"Well that'll have to wait Kemosabe." Tonto said, "Because we have places to stop at first."

I looked at him.

"I thought I was Kemosabe." I said.

"I call EVERYONE Kemosabe, Kemosabe." He returned.

Ok then, learn something new I guess.

"Tonto's right," Inyo said, "We gotta stock up on food and such first. Maybe after we make that run and put it all away we can come back out and look around some more."

I saw a tinge of disappointment in Chief's eyes as he continued down the street and for where the maps said the store was. When Chief snagged the maps, he held one out for me to snapshot, so I have a visual image of it saved to me memory banks; making it super easy to keep track of where we are and where we're going. About fifteen minutes later we finally found the store and walked up to the entrance as Reno pulled out a list from his pocket. I'm guessing it's a list of the items we need to pick up for our dorm. Chief pulled out his wallet to make sure that he had enough money to pitch into our stuff. He had a rough estimate of a couple hundred dollars on 'em at any given time that he got either from his former part-time job at the medaparts shop back home or from winning robattle tourneys. Much of what he initially had was spent on extra parts or maintenance stuff for me, plus whatever piques his interest every time he walked into the store; though he was requested that he save some in case he would need it at College. Ultimately he had enough to contribute as Reno tore the list in half and handed one half to Chief.

"Inyo and I'll tackle one half," He said, "You and Aimflash tackle the other."

"Sounds good." Marcus said as we split off for opposite ends of the store.

Chief grabbed a shopping basket as he transported my backup arms onto me in place of my original. They both belonged to model KAB-00 "Grade Kabuki". They were predominantly a mauve color with cream accents and a brown palm. These were my 'hands' when it was necessary for me to use actual hands for a task. I had no issue using them, but it still felt weird not having my viewfinder on my right arm. We started in the fresh foods section and picked up some apples, oranges, carrots, lettuce, and a few tomatoes before making our way for the dairy section for a couple gallons of milk and some butter and cheese. I ended up speeding back to the front to grab another basket since we quickly filled the first one. Immediately after getting the milk, Chief bee-lined for the cereal aisle and grabbed a couple boxes of his favorite cereal. I only have him a look.

"What?" He asked jovially, "Gotta have my breakfast food."

I only shrugged as he finished our half of the grocery run with the canned goods. Our total runtime hit about forty-eight minutes as we met the others in front of the videogame section.

"Got everything?" Marcus asked.

"Just about," Tonto answered, "But gotta pick up a few more things in the utensils section and we're all set."

"Sweet, we'll meet you at the checkout in five minutes?"

Inyo nodded as they started off. Chief however had that look in his eye as he started browsing through the shelves of games on display; the Wii games in particular.

"You know we left the Wii at home," I said as I shifted my grip to hold my basket better, "Right?"

"I know, but hopefully Mon and Dad'll ship it here when they ship whatever else they decide to send me. It's not like THEY'LL play it anyway."

"And we'll need a TV."

"Consignment stores."

"And what about classes?"

"You know me Aim, have I ever been able to balance school, games, and robattling at one time?"

Alright, if Chief's trying to sound sincere, he's doing a very lousy job doing it.

"No."

"Well you're no fun." He scoffed.

"Just sayin' is all."

Marcus sighed as he took one last look at the shelf, and then almost dropped the basket in his hand at what he saw. Oh boy, this can't be good. What'd you find Chief? Cuz whatever it is, it's not worth it.

"Duude," He said, "Skyward Sword's only thirty bucks here!"

I was actually surprised. That game is normally around fifty bucks every time I saw it on display.

"Not a bad deal," I said, "But it's still not worth it."

Giving me the half-mast eyes look of rebellion, his free hand reached for the game.

"Chief," I said, "You shouldn't."

His hand neared the game.

"You'll be sorry."

It drew ever closer.

"Don't you dare!"

His hand was literally on the case now.

"…You little rebel." I muttered.

"Ain't it great?" He grinned.

The stuff he and I do the annoy each other; it'd drive any other person insane. But hey, we ARE partners and best friends in the world, we're allowed to do stuff that annoys each other and get away with it. I sighed in defeat as he tucked the game in his basket.

"You know YOU'RE going to be paying for that," I said, "Right?"

"Well duh," He retorted, "You know how long I've wanted this game?"

Yes I do Chief, yes I do.

"Well now you just need to get a TV and a Wii to play it on." I responded as we walked down the toiletries aisle to meet the others at the checkout.

"That'll come with time," Marcus shrugged, "But at least I now have a copy of my own."

I only shook my head and sighed as we met the others at the end of the aisle.

"Picked up some entertainment I see." Reno started, seeing the game in Chief's basket.

"Aw yeah," Marcus grinned, "I've been wantin' a copy of this game for forever."

"Well now ya just need something to play it on." Inyo chuckled.

"That's what I told 'em." I sighed, "But Chief apparently didn't listen to me."

"I heard you loud and clear, I just didn't choose to OBEY what you said."

Guh… You see what I mean? He and I get on each other's nerves all the time with silly little things like this. But in our defense, we are best friends in the world and we only do it for fun.

"Well getting some entertainment never hurt." Inyo said.

"I know, right?" Marcus smirked as he bro-fisted both twins.

Great. Now how am I going to keep Chief on track with what he needs to do? We made our way to the checkout and paid for our stuff, which was quite a bill, but easy to manage since it was split by the three guys. We then headed back to the campus to drop off our items. After arriving to our dorms everyone got to work on putting away all the groceries in the proper cupboards or in the refrigerator. I checked my internal clock to find that it wasn't even noon and we already got our main shopping done. Gotta say, I'm impressed. After all the plastic bags were put away in case they were needed, everyone decided to continue exploring the town that we'd be calling home and started back out the door; though AFTER I asked Chief to transport my original arms back onto me. Instead of going left this time, we went right. Chief however, protested.

"I gotta check out that medaparts shop," He said, "You guys can go on ahead, but I'm goin' this way for the moment."

"No worries," Reno waved casually, "You go do what you need. We'll meet at that pizza place we saw about halfway in that direction in twenty minutes."

"Sounds good, let's go Aim."

He and I sprinted down the street, well… HE sprinted, I skated… back to the intersection and crossed the street. Chief wasted no time entering the shop, with me following. It wasn't anything TOO special; just an ordinary medaparts shop. To the left was the register and clerk; whom was minding his own business after giving the new customers a brief look. To the right were several racks of brand new, shiny, packaged parts hanging on hooks and lined on the shelves. To be honest… They do sorta look really neat… with all the sheen they give off in the sunlight… NO, no, I'm not gonna start thinking that. All Chief wanted to do is ask about part time work; I gotta make sure he doesn't get distracted. Seeing the look in his eye however made me know that it wasn't going to be easy. Chief didn't say a word as he browsed up and down the shelves; though he occasionally picked up a package to inspect the parts closer. I'm honestly kinda surprised; normally Chief's like an eight-year-old with ADHD in a candy store whenever we go inside a shop like this, but this time he's quiet as a mouse. After about five minutes he picked up a package that read 'KLN-2M' on the label.

"That dude's a real gnarly fighter," The clerk called, seeing Chief look at the package, "Seen the guy in action once. Murdered the competition man, it was sick..."

"Definitely," Chief agreed, "I've seen this one in action too. Quite the sharpshooter."

"Totally man."

I gave the clerk another look-over. He was easily in his 20s, and definitely had the beach-bum thing goin' on in both his speech pattern and appearance. Dressed in a white t-shirt with sports shorts and sandals, the guy showed his nice tan. His hair was more of a bleached blonde with a hat sporting the shop's logo on it resting on the top of his head.

"The name's Marcus," Chief started as he put the packaged parts back on the shelf and made his way for the register, "And this is Aimflash."

"Kyle man," He returned, "You a student at the College?"

"Yup."

"Epic-ness dude… So am I."

"So you work here outside of classes?"

"Sorta, yeah. But it's only part time; and the pay's not very good."

"I don't care about the part time, would it be possible to see the manager about another worker?"

"I dunno Marcus dude…" Kyle sighed, scratching his head, "The manager of this shop's kinda rough, but I could try if that's what ya want."

"I'd greatly appreciate that."

"Awesome-ness man, I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks."

"No problemo. So you a new student?"

"Yup. How about you?"

"Ah no man, I've been here about two years now. It was only last October I actually decided to put in for part time work to kill some time, ya know?"

"I see, so you would know the system pretty well?"

Kyle made a hesitant yes.

"More or less," He said at last, "See between you and me man, I'm not really the best student if you catch my drift."

"Ah, I get you." Chief nodded, "So where're you from?"

"California man," He grinned, "I don't care what ya hear from anyone else, but the Sunny Cali beaches are where it's at dude. Never will you see anywhere else the perfect surfin' waves with some sick competition."

"Sweeet."

"Sure is man. Well I'll see if I can put in a good word for ya Marcus dude. I think the manager's gonna stop by here tomorrow, so try and stop in and we'll see how it goes."

"Great, thanks Kyle."

"No problemo my man, catch ya later."

Chief and I exited the shop and headed for the pizza place we agreed to meet the others at.

"Ya know," I started, "I was actually impressed with you."

Chief looked at me with a confused look, "How?"

"By how you were able to keep under control in that shop and not go nuts."

"Well in the shop back home, those guys know me; so I could act however I wanted and they not care. This is a new place however, so I gotta be on my best behavior."

He gave me a silly face as he said that.

"And here I thought you actually started maturing." I teased.

"Bah, who needs maturing?"

"You do."

He gave me another look and a raspberry as we crossed the street and entered the pizza place to find the twins already at a booth with empty seats for us.

"So how'd it go?" Inyo asked as we sat down.

"Pretty good," Chief answered, "May have hopefully found a part time job."

"That's always good." Reno chimed in as he started looking at the menu.

Inyo and Chief looked at the menus as well and ordered their drinks when the server first arrived.

"So you guys find anything interesting?" Chief started as they finished looking over what to order.

"Not as of yet," Ranger answered, "We didn't go very far before deciding to wait on you."

"Well I appreciate the wait."

"No prob pal," Inyo grinned, "We newbies gotta stick together."

It wasn't much longer before the server returned with the guy's drinks and took their orders. They all voted on a cheese pizza with sausage and pepperoni to split amongst the three of them, making the order easy and simple. As he finished writing down the order, I was able to glimpse past Chief's head enough to get a good look at 'em. Much of his head however was concealed by the black shades he was wearing. Wait a minute… Black shades? Those look awfully familiar… But it wouldn't be a coincidence, would it? Maybe the guy's blind or can't see very well? Or just is light sensitive today? Nahh… Those shades are far too familiar to simply be a coincidence. I better warn Chief about this guy, who know when trouble may strike if I'm guessing correctly. My suspicions were confirmed when he finished writing the down the order.

"Ok then," He said, "So I got a cheese pizza with pepperoni and sausage. Sound good?"

"Sounds right to me." Reno answered.

"Good, then I'll have that order in for ya now. Ro-" He quickly stopped cold and coughed in an attempt to cover it as he headed to the kitchen to put the order in.

Aha! I knew it! Chief's gotta know about this.

"Hey Chief," I started, though kept my voice low enough for everyone at the table to hear me, "Did that server seem a little… strange… to you at all?"

Chief looked at me, "What do you mean?"

"Black shades?"

"Maybe just sensitive to light?"

"And almost said 'robo' out loud?"

The twins caught on.

"Hold up a sec," Inyo started, "Are saying that our server is a rubberobo?"

"Say whaaat?" Chief said, finally getting what I was asking.

"I'm not saying anything." I clarified, "I was only saying that it just seemed a little outta place to me."

"Well if he IS a rubberobo, then shouldn't we have some proof to back up the claim?" Reno asked.

I chuckled, "You looking at the king of proof, I AM a camera type after all."

"Sounds like we have a plan, but we shouldn't act like we know so he doesn't suspect us." Tonto nodded.

"Let's let him come back with our pizza first," Reno finished, "And then time we'll ALL get a chance to look 'em over carefully."

About ten minutes passed before the pizza arrived; fresh from the oven. We all took quick turns looking our server over to verify our claims, and sure enough he almost said 'robo' again before leaving to check on the other customers.

"You guys see it that time?" I asked.

"Sure did." Chief nodded.

"So what do we do?" Inyo inquired.

"Here's what I propose. Aim, Ranger, and Tonto leave the restaurant to find a rear entrance and sneak inside. Once in the kitchen, stay outta sight and listen in on anything they may say. If there really are rubberobos here, then they oughta hear something about world domination."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Ranger agreed.

"Good plan, Kemosabe." Tonto added.

Chief grinned as he looked at me.

"Alright Aim, take your team and show those rubber-heads that they can't hide anything from us."

"You got it Chief." I said.

Ranger, Tonto, and I exited the booth seat we all sat in and left the restaurant; doing our best to remain inconspicuous. After we left the restaurant, my first instinct was to immediately make a path for the rear of the building. Ranger and Tonto however stopped me and said that it'd be better to just wander down the street for a few minutes to make sure that no one was on to us. I agreed as we meandered around the corner and casually made our way for the rear of the building. Sure enough there was a door in the back alley that led inside. As we headed for the door, something in the trash caught my attention.

"Huh?" I asked, "What's that? In the trash."

Ranger fished it out to find a plastic antenna. It was then that we all knew who it belonged to. There WERE rubberobos here, and it's only a matter of time before we found the truth. I reached my left arm and grabbed the doorknob with the tripod legs. I turned the knob, only for my arm to slide along its surface.

"It's locked." I said.

"No worries Kemosabe," Tonto replied, "We'll take care of it."

Ranger braced himself as Tonto hopped onto his shoulders and unsheathed this left arm Assassin blade. Sure I heard that the Ragna6 blades were some serious business, but I never put thought to that until now, dang that blade looks sharp. Tonto fitted the front-most tooth of his blade into the keyhole and started twisting. After a few seconds the door unlocked, allowing us access to the inside. Tonto hopped down as he carefully entered and stayed out of sight of the kitchen.

"Keep a watch on by back," I whispered to them, "I'll see what's goin' on."

Both twin medabots nodded as they watched the door and hall vigilantly.

I peered around the corner to indeed see what we all suspected; but it was worse than I originally figured. Everyone in the kitchen wore a black rubber suit with a single grey antenna sticking out of their heads, as well as wearing black shades like our server. The only difference was the servers, who concealed their antennae with wigs and wore regular clothes over their suit. I knew it; these rubber-dummies are as good as caught! The only issue I saw now was trying to get my viewfinder in place so I could snap a picture of the criminals in the act. The other side of the entrance to the kitchen was clear as I quickly dashed across and prepared for a good picture. It was then that I started hearing a few of them talking.

"This is perfect," One said, "Once we make enough money selling frozen pizzas at outrageous prices, then the next phase in our plan for world domination will finally be ready."

I mentally facepalmed. Frozen pizzas guys? Really? That's just stupid. But of course, these ARE the rubberobos we're listening in on.

"So what IS the plan on making enough money?" Another asked, "Cuz we only got this one shop. Robo."

"That's phase one and a half," The first laughed, "Sure we'll lose a bit of money buying out some empty buildings, but it'll be an investment in the long-run since we'll be able to open more pizzerias and therefore sell more pizzas and make more money! It's the perfect plan!"

"You said it boss." A third said, "Robo."

These guys are as stupid as the ones back home. No, I'm wrong, these guys are even worse; especially recalling the time the rubber-heads, back home, weaseled their way to the Chair positions at the town robattle championship last year and had the competitors play for medals instead of parts. These guys on the other hand, they're AT BEST a bunch of numbskulls in rubber suits that have no actual idea on how to take over the world. I prepared my viewfinder and managed to snap a few good pictures of their leader; who set himself apart with two yellow antennae on his head instead of a single gray one. After about my eighth consecutive picture, I decided we had more than enough proof to turn these dodos in to the local authorities. I nodded to Ranger and Tonto to give them the ok to go ahead and wait for me outside. I was about to dash back across the entrance to the kitchen again, but I slipped on a wet spot on the floor and gave my position away. The rubborobos quickly looked in my direction and caught me rising back to my feet.

"HEY!" The leader called, "What're you doing back here?!"

"Say cheese." I said as I snapped another picture of them and then darted out the door.

The robo leader was duped for a moment before fuming in anger.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE YOU FOOLS!" He yelled, "AFTER HIM! HE KNOWS OUR OPERATION!"

A chorus of "robo-robo" could be heard as the rubber-heads initiated pursuit. I met Ranger and Tonto on the sidewalk and made a mad dash down the street and around the corner. Knowing we were going to fly right by Chief and the others, I fired one meda-bullet from my left arm at the glass just to get their attention. It worked successfully as they watched all three of us run, and me skate, by. Inyo and Reno had managed to transport horse-type leg parts onto Ranger and Tonto before we got out of range. Their new legs belonged to a model called Legend Horn, but the new addition gave them not only a bit of extra height, but also the appearance of centaurs as they started galloping at an even pace with my skating. I looked back to see the rubber-heads still hot in pursuit, as well as several Noctobats surrounding them like a green and black cloud. I counted about eight bots and four people in pursuit of us, and I normally wouldn't let that get to me since I've been chased by rubberobos before, but this time I'm in a completely new place I know nothing about. Ranger and Tonto apparently nominated me as leader since they were keeping pace with me, but staying a foot or so behind me on either side, so I'll just have to resort to my wits and make the best of the situation.

* * *

***gasp* Rubberobos?! How can this be? Well whatever the case, they're caught red-handed; and it'll be up to Aim, Ranger, and Tonto to see that they get arrested. Or will they? The only way to find out is to read on…**

**Leave a review please, I appreciate anything to be said.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, Steam here. Well ya wanna know if Marcus and the twins will catch the Rubberobos? The only way to find out would be to read on.**

**Credit to Natsume for Medabots, me for everyone else, and I greatly appreciate reviews; so please leave one.**

**I also want to send a shout-out to AproposFool89 for Beta Reading for me. You're awesome dude, really enjoy workin' with ya.**

**This chapter is told from Marcus's POV by the way.**

* * *

**Chapter 3 (Marcus's POV)**

After seeing Aim and the twin bots rush by us outside, as well as see the rubberobos in hot pursuit, I yanked a ten-dollar bill and left it on the table as I darted out the door. Inyo and Reno left a pair of ones next to my ten as they followed me.

"Aim," I called into my medawatch as I started in pursuit as well, "Aim, you there?"

"Read ya loud and clear Chief." He responded.

"What street on you on? The twins and I'll try and intercept the rubber-heads as we cross paths."

"Uhh… We're turning left onto Baker Boulevard, but-AHHH!"

My heart jumped at that noise. Hearing small explosions ahead made me feel even more so worried.

"Aim!" I called into my watch, "You still there?"

"Yeah, we're getting shot at now. These guys mean business!"

I stopped my run short as the twins finally caught up to me. I looked through the alley to my left and hatched an idea.

"Alright, here's the plan." I started, "Aim, I need you to double back and bring them around the block. Inyo, Reno, and I'll be waiting next to the medaparts shop to jump at least a couple robos and hold them down."

Inyo and Reno got in on my plan too.

"Ranger," Reno called through his watch, "Keep following Aimflash and make sure the rubberobos are still behind you."

"You got it," He replied, "HEIGH HO, AWAY!"

I turned to the twins and pointed for the alley. They followed close behind me as we quickly dashed across the street and waited for Aim and the others. About thirty seconds passed before I saw Aim drift around the corner with Ranger and Tonto close behind him. Gotta say though, those twin bots sure know how to manage multi-legged parts like nobody's business. They kept at a steady gallop, but they weren't bobbing up and down like anyone would with galloping; it was like they were floating on air their gallop was so smooth. Maybe it was the part itself, cuz I have heard that Legend Horn has a very smooth stride, but then it could also the skill of both Ranger and Tonto. Maybe a combination? I dunno. Closing the gap fast were the rubberobos and about eight Noctobats. I honestly don't get why those rubber-heads are so adamant about having Noctobat as their 'lackey' bot. For goodness sake they don't even DO anything! All they specialize in is Anti-Air based attacks, and outside of battling a flight type their parts are basically useless; and don't get me started about their armor ratings! I'm serious, even a Two-year-old could beat a Noctobat without taking a scratch. As I readied to break into a tackle the moment the robos were in range, Kyle peered outside to see what was going on. Seeing the rubberobos, he quickly joined the three of us on the sidewalk.

"Need some help dudes?" He asked.

"If you don't mind," Inyo said, "Umm…"

"Guys," I chimed in, knowing we didn't have a lot of time before the rubberobos get too close, "Meet Kyle. Kyle, meet my roommates, Inyo and Reno."

"Awesome-ness dudes," Kyle grinned, "So we're takin' on a load of rubberobos huh? I got the most gnarly move that'll take 'em out easy."

"Well now would be a great time to use it," Reno returned, "Because we don't have much time before we need to act."

With a smirk on his face, the beach boy transported his medabot into the fray and onto the street. It was a Sharkann model, nothing TOO special about it.

"THE TIDES ARE HIGH SHARKANN!" Kyle shouted with confidence, "LET THOSE RUBER-DUDES SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO!"

It was at that moment that Sharkann raised both his arms as an aquatic cyclone began forming around his leg part. Seeing the cyclone grow wider and larger, I looked back at Aim.

"Aim," I called, "Dive for the sidewalk, the streets are about to be washed out in a second!"

"I'm seein' that, and I'm one step ahead of you!" He called back and he, Ranger, and Tonto hit the sidewalk and reduced speed to a quick trot.

The three bots met us and proceeded to watch the show. The rubberobos and Noctobat stopped short and looked at the shark type medabot in confusion, asking 'Robo?' and cocking their heads. After about ten more seconds, a fairly decent whirlpool had formed around Sharkann, with him at its center.

"SURF'S UP SHARKANN!" Kyle ordered, "CARVE THOSE WAVES WITH THE TIDAL-WAVE MANEUVER!"

Sharkann's cyclone backed up about two feet before transforming into a massive tidal wave and lunging itself at the rubber-heads. Sharkann had moved to the top of the wave and was now carving it like a pro surfer. It was too late to turn and run as the tidal wave swallowed them all, and their medabots, whole with a powerful crash. The tidal wave then suddenly dissipated as the water rushed into the storm drain and out of sight. I was wide-eyed at seeing such a maneuver pulled off, on a ROAD no less. Sure I can see something like that being done in water, but not on a road. Holy stinkin' cow, Kyle's really a force to be reckoned with. Better make sure to stay on this guy's good side in the future; AND make sure I can counter that maneuver should I ever robattle him. I glimpsed at the completely drenched and soaked rubber-heads, with my mouth still hanging open. Inyo and Reno were wide-eyed and open-mouthed too, so at least I wasn't the only one. It wasn't too much longer before a couple city cops ran from around the corner and saw the dazed rubberobos in the street. They quickly proceeded to call for backup and make sure they didn't go anywhere; though judging at how sea-sick they're looking now, I highly doubt they're going to be making an escape.

"You dudes like that?" Kyle laughed as Sharkann slithered up next to him.

"How did you do that?!" Was the first thing outta my mouth.

Aim and the others had the same question running through their heads, but I was the first to speak.

"Ha ha! Bein' a beach-bum's got its advantages man. Carved some WICKED waves back in Cali, and with enough training Sharkann was able to replicate what we do on actual waves when we go surfing."

"But there's no way Sharkann can do that sort of move!" I said.

"That's where you're wrong Marcus dude," The beach boy grinned, "A little practice goes a long way."

He had a point. Just kind of waves exactly did this guy and his bot take on in California? Because if a standard-model Sharkann learned a move like surf they must've been some seriously huge waves. Wait, did I just say surf? That sounded more like I was describing a Pokémon than I was a medabot. Dang I'm so blown away by this guy; he must teach me his secrets! My mind was brought back to reality as one of the cops walked over to meet us.

"You all the ones that caught these guys?" He asked.

"Sure am." Aimflash answered.

"Well we thank you for your assistance then."

He then saluted us. I'm beginning to feel like a real hero and celebrity now. I can only wonder if I can keep it from going to my head.

"It may be worth mentioning that they were working in the pizzeria down the block." Inyo added, "That's how we found out about 'em."

"That's already taken care of." The cop nodded, "Their leader's on his way downtown, and the shop was returned to the original owner."

That's good to hear. I was hoping that I wouldn't end up having to completely avoid that place, but I guess I won't have to worry about it now. The cop compensated us for the money we used to pay for the pizza, and then a small reward for capturing the rubberobos, though it really ticked me off that those rubber-heads were using FROZEN pizzas and passing them off as fresh. That's just wrong people, you don't, repeat, DON'T, do that to pizza! That is just asking to incur someone's wrath. And with that said I hope those rubberobos learned their lesson; cuz it would've been worse if I was the one to teach it instead of Kyle. It wasn't long before the cops carried the soaking wet rubberobos away and the street was empty once again.

"Well I hate to surf and run dudes," Kyle started, "But I'm still on my shift and gotta finish it."

"Alright," I said, "We'll see you later then I guess?"

"Totally man, I'd love to hang out with you guys sometime."

"What dorm are you in?" Inyo asked.

"Blue Corundum dudes."

If I recall correctly, that was the dorm right next to the Theodra Beryl dorms.

"I see, just curious is all."

"No probs man. Well I'll catch ya later then."

"Right," Aimflash finished, "Talk to ya later."

"Later my man."

He and Sharkann entered the shop and left us alone on the street. Wow, just barely past one in the afternoon and we've already completed our shopping, explored some of the town, AND caught some rubberobos, ALL in one day no less. Talk about a busy day. And if it's going to be like this every day, I can only wonder how I'll be able to pull it off when classes start. On the topic of classes, I better remember when we get back to our room to set up my laptop and print off a copy of my class schedule. Classes start next Monday, and it's already Saturday. Only one more day before I start classes, in translation says, one final day of freedom before I'm bound to endless homework and never see the light of day again. Well… maybe I'm exaggerating a bit… Ah well, College is a new start, so I'll look at it with a new outlook than I did in High School. We all looked around on where to explore next, but were interrupted by my growling stomach. Dang it… Because of the rubberobo incident I wasn't able to get anything to eat.

"Well I figure the first place we should go visit would be a place for food." Reno jested.

"I'm up for that plan." I returned as we started down the street to explore for any stand-alone food stands on the corners.

Inyo and Reno had transported Ranger and Tonto's original legs back onto them as they now walked with two regular legs again. As we strolled past the campus, I looked up at the blue sky above us. Fluffy white clouds could be seen no matter where ya look, the sun wasn't too bright; yup… this is a nice day. We eventually gave up finding any food stands and agreed on a Dairy Queen we found. The food was good, so no complaints there; and I like I always do whenever I eat at DQ, I ordered a Heath Blizzard to take on the go when we finished and paid for our food. Inyo and Reno apparently followed my influence and each ordered an Oreo Blizzard to snack on. Between you and me, I just love eating a Blizzard on a nice day like today. You eat something nice and cold like ice cream, and the sun is nice enough to warm you up as you eat; even better when you can eat the dessert without the fear of it melting into soup. Don't get me wrong, I love Blizzards when they're soupy too; it's just fishing out the Heath bits sitting on the bottom of the cup that gets annoying. Eventually we finished our snack and talked merrily as we discovered a department store, electronics store, Gamestop, and several other small shops in the square. I looked to our right to find a nice looking park populated with lots of people and medabots. We were about to pass by the front entrance, but were stopped by a "Stop it already! You win!" Was it what I think? Was some person's medabot being smashed into the ground unfairly? My excitement started to rise again, and seeing Aim as antsy as I was, we knew there was just NO WAY we're gonna sit out on this one.

"I smell a robattle," I grinned, "Come on Aim, let's go!"

"I'm right behind ya Chief!" He answered.

The twins and their medabots followed shortly after as we dashed through the park towards the source of the distress; though we sped ahead of them easily. Eventually Aim and I found the source, which was a kid, looking to be no older than maybe fourteen or fifteen, with a very worried and panicked look on his face. On the other side of the arena was some dude, looking to be about my age that seriously made a statement with that Goth sort of look. In the arena itself were two bots, naturally. One was a model named Pipe Brain, who was a GBL-0X Sherlock Holmes type, getting beaten to a pulp might I add, and the other combatant was the SPT-0 Serpent-Dragon type, Spitfire. Gotta say, Spitfire's really layin' it hard on Pipe Brain; though it'd kinda be the kid's fault since Pipe Brain has NO attack whatsoever unless you transport an attack part on him. Ah well, whatever the case be, see a kid in trouble and I gotta intervene. Aimflash was with me a hundred percent as we watched whatever we could take before calling out.

"Just quit it already!" The kid shouted, "I give up, you win! Just please stop hurting Sherlock!"

"I'll stop when you give me all your parts." The dude returned, "Otherwise I'll just beat 'em off your tin can."

"Not unless someone else decides to step in." I called.

Both looked over in Aim and I's direction as I smirked confidently.

"Well what do you want?" The dude asked sarcastically.

"A robattle," I returned, "And a wager. Beat me and those kid's parts are yours as well as one of Aimflash's. FIVE parts man, you'd be an idiot to pass up a deal like this."

"And if I lose?"

"You leave the kid alone."

The dude chuckled, "That's it? No part forfeiting? No nothing?"

"You got it."

He then grinned evilly. It was then that I knew I had this guy right where I wanted 'em. I could also tell that both the kid and Aim were a little surprised by my wager, but Aim knew for a fact that I wouldn't make such a crazy deal unless I could actually beat the guy. Now in truth I was a bit nervous about battling a Spitfire since we never have before. I heard a lot of things about 'em, such as they tend to like showing no mercy, not including that fact that they have been given the title, 'the Invincible Dragon' by many. Nonetheless, it's all in or all out, and I'm all in!

"Deal," He said, "Now prepare to face the power of the Invincible Dragon!"

"He may not be invincible much longer," I challenged, "Aim, let's do this!"

"You got it Chief!"

Aim skated into the battle, as thankfully the surface was concrete, giving us the speed advantage. Aim's pretty good in basically any environment except sand, but on concrete or roads, he'll skate circles around you before you even have the chance to move. The distraction gave the kid a chance to grab his bot and pull him to safety. Watching this, much more of the arena opened up; giving Aim the best amount of space to move freely.

"Alright Aim," I called though my watch, "Let's start easy on this guy. Get on close and blind 'em with phase one!"

"I hear ya loud and clear!" He called back and he skated into a sharp U-turn and rolled for the target.

I could tell that Spitfire was a little taken aback by Aim's speed, but that's what we'll use to our advantage. Upon reaching a distance of about ten feet, Aim made a leap into the air. It was at this point I knew to cover my eyes, as things were about to get bright. Inyo, Reno, and their bots finally caught up to see the action just starting. As Aim sailed about four feet off the ground, he opened the camera lens in his chest and focused on Spitfire.

"Say cheese!" He called confidently as the entire arena was suddenly engulfed in bright light.

Spitfire turned away to cover his face, but by the time the flash disappeared, phase one of Aim and I's specialty maneuver was already complete. My assessment was then confirmed by seeing the Serpent type frantically scan the area around him and randomly throwing a punch into thin air. This was good. This was going to be a quick battle.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN VISON'S DOWN BY EIGHTY PERCENT?!" I heard the dude roar, though I couldn't help but chuckle.

"On to phase two Aim," I called, not letting my focus waver, "Gun 'em down and bring it around town!"

"WHOOOOOO!" I heard him holler as he now literally skated circles around Spitfire and use his left arm Gatling gun.

This guy was a sitting duck, and that was how I loved my opponents. Seeing the anger and frustration in my opponent's face only added to my determination to show this guy that picking on kids is something we don't take lightly.

"TIME TO FINISH 'EM OFF WITH PHASE THREE!" I shouted, the determination metaphorically engulfing me like a fire.

Aim rolled to about twenty feet and spun around to a stop. This was the good part, heh heh. Aim got down on his left knee as he held up his viewfinder laser and stabilized it with his left arm. The front began to rotate as it scoped in and targeted the dazed opponent, and seconds later fired a beam of blue energy towards 'em. This was the end, this battle was won. It's a straight shot to his vulnerable head and he's outta here.

"GUARD YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR ARMS!" I heard the dude shout quickly.

Spitfire at the last second held up both arms as the blue beam struck true. As it dissipated, Aim and I were in shock to find that he indeed was able to protect his head and divert the damage to his right arm. Darn, this guy's good. I did notice however that Aim was able to shut down the damaged arm, so maybe we can just pick 'em off until he can't guard.

"You really think that's all I got?" The guy laughed, "Well now you're about to find out why they call Spitfire the Invincible Dragon. SPITFIRE, REGENERATE!"

The serpent type looked at his arm as his eyes started glowing brightly. Instantly we saw that he had healed his arm and rendered it usable again. Oh great, he regenerates. This is bad, this is very bad…

"What?!" I heard Aim call in surprise.

"Now you know," The dude, said, "On to the main event of this robattle. SPITFIRE, X-ATTACK SET!"

Like lightning Spitfire moved and suddenly started surrounding Aim with several small spheres on the ground. Uh oh, we know X-Attack all too well, this is getting dangerous fast. Even today we have no definite strategy when it comes to X-Attack once it's set or being set; we try and beat our opponent BEFORE they get the chance to use it. But with someone as quick as Spitfire, we're hosed.

"AIM," I called, "Get outta there, NOW!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" He shouted back as he quickly tried to turn around and escape.

"I don't think so," The guy shouted, "You're not goin' anywhere! SPITFIRE, X-ATTACK RELEASE!"

Spitfire made a hand gesture with his left hand as small barrels emerged from the spheres. They all opened fire at the same time as Aim narrowly somersaulted underneath a majority of the attack. He quickly scrambled to his feet, but I noticed a few blackened and dented spots on Aim's viewfinder and legs. Rats, he was nicked by a few blasts. I checked my watch to find that Aim took thirty percent damage to his legs and about thirty-five to his arm.

"Sorry Chief," Aim called, "I got clipped a couple times on that one."

"Don't worry about it," I called back, "Just keep goin' and try attacking this guy again. We need to strike fast and hit hard."

"Roger that Chief, I'll see what I can do."

Aim skated in close again and tried to gun his target in another phase two maneuver. Spitfire however, apparently learned and countered as he dealt a swift punch to Aim's torso. Aim was stunned enough to give the serpent type a chance to set up another X-Attack. This is getting bad. If Aim doesn't recover soon he's a goner. And seeing him frantically look around to try and follow his target, things were about to go from bad to worse if something didn't happen soon to turn the tables. What I failed to notice however was that a previously beaten opponent had mustered enough strength and willpower to stand and step into the fray. I looked only for a moment to see that kid's Pipe Brain struggling to make his way into the fight. Was he crazy?! That bot's in no shape to get back into a fight, the best he could do is just stay out of it. Spitfire had almost completed his X-Attack Set as the small spheres encircled Aim, with no escape route whatsoever this time. Aim was pinned, and this was not going to end well.

"Chief," He called worriedly, "What do I do?"

I growled in frustration at this checkmate situation. At this point I could see no way of turning the tables in this fight. Aim was toast, and I hated not having a definite strategy. Because of Spitfire's regenerative ability, pretty much ninety-nine percent of Aim and I's strategies are useless since they required time to charge; and that time would be used by our opponent to heal any damage he takes. Aim's Flash attack had no damage value whatsoever, as it was only meant to blind the opponent, his left arm was a Gatling gun that did minimal to average damage, and then his viewfinder laser, which took the longest to charge, was his most powerful weapon. Wait a sec… Maybe… just maybe… it's crazy, but it's all we got.

"Alright Aim, here's the plan." I said, whispering it into my medawatch so my opponent couldn't hear me, "Wait until the last possible second and flash this guy again. If timed right it'll give us at least a split second for you to get out of the attack range."

"It could work," He returned, "But it's all we got, so I'm with ya."

"You ready to surrender?" The dude bragged, "This is your final chance."

"Forget it!" I called, "Aim and I never surrender! With us it's all or nothing!"

"Fine then, your loss. Finish this loser off Spitfire!"

Just as the serpent type raised his left arm again, Aim took the chance and flashed him with his torso camera lens. The arena was again engulfed in light as Spitfire quickly released his X-Attack and fired; wanting to catch Aim before he moved. Clouds of black smoke drowned out the flash as a smokescreen meandered in the air. I didn't realize that in our robattle that several passersby and bystanders had come to watch the action, that is, until I looked around only for a moment. When the smoke cleared, Aimflash was nowhere to be seen, leaving both me and my opponents confused.

"Huh?" He wondered out loud, "Where'd he go?"

I heard "Lookin' for me?" ring from behind Spitfire as Aim landed a good tackle to his backside; careening from forward and onto his face.

"Nicely done Aim," I commented with a smirk, "I thought I lost ya there for a sec."

"Well I hate to disappoint," He returned jovially, "But I'm not going anywhere."

"No disappointment from me, now let's finish this fight!"

"W-Wait!" I heard the Pipe Brain call as he still struggled to stand, "I… C-can help you…"

I looked over at the kid, "Are you crazy?! One hit and your bot's history! Just leave it to me and Aim."

"Just give us a chance!" He called back, "We can help!"

"Why not?" The dude shrugged, "Just means an extra target for Spitfire to destroy."

I gritted my teeth in anticipation. Yes, I needed an edge in this fight, but no I don't want this kid to risk his bot giving it to me. Eventually I gave him a nod as the Pipe Brain made as good a battle stance as he could manage.

"SPITFIRE!" The dude called, "QUIT WASTING TIME AND FINISH THEM OFF!"

Spitfire darted for the detective type, seeing that he was in the weakest condition, and proceeded to set up the death blow.

"Now Sherlock!" I heard the kid call, "Search Operation! Target Spitfire's head!"

"Understood." He returned as he held up his right arm magnifying glass and looked through it to focus on one spot in the serpent type's circling.

After a second, he turned to Aim.

"Target here!" He shouted.

I then noticed on my medawatch that Aim was wirelessly receiving the information that the Pipe Brain had recorded and discovered. Seeing Spitfire near the completion of his X-Attack, Aim got back down on his left knee and target exactly where the Pipe Brain had told him to.

Just as I heard, "NOW, FINISH HIM!" from my opponent, I already shouted the order for Aim to fire his laser. As Spitfire raised his left arm to activate the attack, the laser struck him dead in the left side of the head and threw him sharply into the dirt bank with a crash. The small spheres around the detective type imploded into small plumes as we knew only one thing. Even from where I was standing on the other side of the arena I could see the smoking and gaping hole that Aim had blasted into that sucker's head. Aim looked back at me as the same thought rolled through our minds; the Invincible Dragon was invincible no more. Someone in the crowd shouted "SPITFIRE FUNCTION CEASED!" as the crowd roared and cheered for the victors.

"We did it Chief!" Aim hollered as he skated over to me.

I took a very heavy sigh, "We sure did, but it sure was a tough one."

"But we beat 'em."

"That we did pal, that we did."

I could see the dude quickly transport his downed bot and walk away in shame, leaving the park and grumbling to himself.

"Gotta hand it to ya," Inyo started as he and the others met me and Aim, "Didn't think you'd pull outta that one for a moment there. But then you took the chance and dealt it fast and hard. Well done."

"Same here," Reno added, "Remind us not to get on your bad side."

We all laughed as the kid, carrying his beaten bot piggyback style, met us as well.

"Thanks for sticking up for us." He said.

I turned to face 'em, "No prob kid, glad Aim and I could help."

"You guys sure knew what you were doing."

"It's just good strategy and training." Aim shrugged.

"Tis true," The detective type agreed, with a fairly obvious British accent in his voice, "It would only be the logical solution."

"Oh, I'm sorry." The kid said, "I forgot to introduce us. I'm Zack, but call me Watson; and this is my medabot, Sherlock."

"Nice to meet ya Watson," I grinned, "I'm Marcus, and this is my buddy Aimflash."

"Pleasured to make your acquaintance." Sherlock nodded.

I was able to make out more detail on this kid now that I could see 'em up close. He was brown-haired and brown eyed, height being no higher than the bottom of my nose, and dressed in a graphic t-shirt and shorts with worn tennis shoes. I also got the reference to why he wanted to be called Watson. Heh heh… Sherlock and Watson, classic.

"Well we gotta split," Watson said, "But we'll have to get together another time and maybe you can sow me and Sherlock some of your techniques."

"Definitely," I smiled back, "Take care you two."

They both waved goodbye as they started off for the other direction of the park; I'm guessing to go home.

Wow… What. A. Day. Two robattles in one day, participating in one, capturing come rubberobos, exploring the town, AND getting shopping done for our dorm; all before four in the evening no less! I'm actually surprised to say this, but I'm beat. And seeing the dents on Aim meant that I'd have to fix 'em later; which was fine, I don't mind doing that at all. But I knew one thing for certain, and both Inyo and Reno could see it in my face; it was time to call it a day and relax in our dorm.

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**In today's robattle, Aimflash overcomes Spitfire the Invincible Dragon with the help of Sherlock, though no parts were forfeited since that term was agreed upon by both sides of the match.**

**What'll happen next? Find out next time. Until then, leave a review will ya? Doesn't take long to do.**

**MORE MEDABOTS! MORE POWER!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Guess who's back with a Double-Whammy update? :D That's right! My Beta Reader, AproposFool89, and I really stepped up reading and writing these next few chapters and finished 'em quickly. Really enjoy workin' with ya pal, thanks for Beta'ing for me.**

**Natsume claims credit for Medabots, I claim credit for everyone else. And I continue to say this- leave a review please! I appreciate anything to be said.**

**This chapter is told from Aimflash's POV**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

We got back to our dorm around five in the evening after a celebratory trip back to the Dairy Queen for another round of Blizzards for the guys. I was as proud as Chief was, and if I could smile I'd be smiling as big as he was too. It was an epic robattle all-round; though it was cut kinda close with Sherlock risking his tinpet to help me out. To be honest I never really cared for support-type medabots, though I was friends with a few back home, but Sherlock sure proved himself. I feel kinda bad that we didn't hear the cry for help sooner, but how could we from where we were in the park? Ah well, the bottom line is that we kicked bot, took names, and made a couple new friends. I'll bet that robattle may have even helped Chief gain a couple friends for when he starts classes, but we never know. After about fifteen minutes of cooling off, Chief unpacked one of the repair kits he brought with us from home and transported my backup legs and right arm to use in the meantime. My backup legs were from a model called RAY-0 "Stingray". They were predominantly red and black in color, but like my old legs, the heels were wheels that allowed me to skate like I could on my old legs. The only drawback to this leg was that I had no ankles; everything from the knee down was one piece. Such is life; my legs'll be fixed in no time with Chief workin' on 'em.

Around 6:30 passed around before my arm and legs were finished and transported back onto me. Gosh it felt good to have them back on; I can't stand looking like a mixed mess of random parts. After a visit to the freshly-stocked fridge, Chief made his way back to our room to finish setting up his stuff. There honestly wasn't a lot to set up, as we had done most of it yesterday after arriving here, but Chief still had his electronics to finish getting ready; such as his laptop.

"Need a hand with anything Chief?" I asked as I walked in.

"Naw, not really Aim." He returned, "Thanks for the offer though."

"What're partners for?"

Silence ensued between us as Chief finished setting up his laptop and logged in.

"Wanna download the pictures you took real quick?" He then inquired, "Won't take too long."

"Why not?" I replied, "You gotta email that one I took of you and the twins to Mom anyway."

"This is true. In all honesty I almost forgot you took that picture earlier today. Man it's been a long day."

"You can say that again." I agreed as I collapsed on his bed, "I mean robattling can sure be tiring, but that one with Spitfire was a real tough one."

"It would've been easier if he didn't regenerate."

"Ha! No kidding; he'd have been out in the first thirty seconds if he didn't."

Chief turned to me from his chair, "On that topic, we'll need to have a strategy for taking care of opponents like that on hand in the case we come up against any more."

I rose to a sitting position, "Well what do you suggest?"

"I was thinking about a faster gun part. Something quick like your tripod, but a little more powerful."

"You mean like a rifle?"

"That'd be one possibility," He shrugged, "Plus we have one or two rifle parts already. Let's download your photos real quick and then I'll check our parts library."

"Sure thing." I nodded as I turned around and popped open my medal hatch.

Chief took a USB adapter and plugged one end into his laptop, and then the other into a slot situated just above my medal. I got a popup in my vision that said that I detected the USB device, and I said I wanted to download the photos I took to his laptop. It took about thirty seconds to finish the download before Chief took the plug from me back and closed my medal hatch. I watched him flip through the thirty-some images and then stop on the one I took of him, Inyo, and Reno. He couldn't help but grin for a moment as he right clicked it and hit 'send in email'. He then typed a quick message in the box and typed in his Mom's email address before hitting send. Chief gave me a quick glimpse.

"Those pictures you took of the street names'll certainly help for the first couple weeks." He said.

"That's why I took them."

Chief couldn't help but shrug as he decided to spend the rest of the night surfing the net and chatting with friends from home on Google+. He enjoyed himself for a couple hours, and a run back to the fridge to get a soda, before shutting down his laptop and getting up to stretch. I had a feeling I knew what was next as I watched him leave the room. I heard Chief say good night to Inyo and Reno before returning here and closing the door behind him to change into some sleep pants. Afterwards he left again to finish for the night before coming back and laying down on the bed.

"Hittin' the sack?" I asked.

"Yup," He answered, yawning, "Tomorrow's my last day before classes start. I wanna be able to enjoy whatever tomorrow brings."

"Understandable, any plans in mind?"

"I dunno, maybe exploring the campus this time. Get to know the halls I'll be traveling down so I know where to go."

"Sounds like a good plan."

"Sure does."

He yawned again before getting up to close the door and the turn the light out.

"Night Aim," He said, "See you in the morning."

"Sleep well Chief," I returned, dimming my optical visor, "And pleasant dreams."

I then went into sleep mode.

It was about 7:00 in the morning when I reactivated and found Chief out of bed. Huh, must've just missed 'em. I got up and started down the short hall and found him eating breakfast with the twins.

"Mornin." I greeted.

"Good morning Aimflash." Inyo returned, "Sleep well?"

"I guess," I shrugged, "How about you guys?"

All three nodded… Well… The twins nodded, Chief gave me the half-awake look with a slight head bob. I looked around to see both Ranger and Tonto sitting on the couch playing cards in silence. I guess I was the last one up. Ah well, doesn't bother me.

After breakfast, Chief hopped in the shower and then exited it about twenty minutes later. Seeing the twins take their last free day to finish pack anything needed for tomorrow, Chief decided to follow through on his plan and write a copy of his class schedule on a piece of paper and then head for the door.

"Well I'm off to explore the campus," He said, "Catch you guys later."

"Later Marcus." Both twins returned in unison as I left with him.

With a campus map in hand, we started for the third floor of the main building to find Chief's Math class. Not quite his favorite subject, but he gets along in it… with a little pushing every now and then. Chief decided to follow his schedule in a day-by-day pattern as we descended to the second floor for his History class, and then to the other side of the building for his English. We passed by the library and one of the computer labs as we made our way for the main lobby; in the meantime we found his Communications class as well. We stopped there as Chief looked at his piece of paper again in confusion.

"What's up Chief?" I asked him.

"That medabots class that the Dean put me in," He said, "I never got that email yet. Hmm… I guess I'll just go and talk to 'em then."

He then headed to the front desk.

"Excuse me." He started.

The receptionist looked his direction, "Yes?"

"Where's the Dean's office from here?"

"Follow that hallway and take the stairs up to the fifth floor." He said as he pointed to the hallway to his left, "Once you get there you can't miss it."

"Right, thanks."

We started off in that direction. I gotta say though, there are sure lots of bots here on the campus; and so many different models too. I recognize a few, but there are more that I haven't seen than I HAVE seen. This should be fun; getting to robattle all these guys. I wonder how strong they are compared to me? Was that Spitfire only the beginning of endless high-stakes robattles? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy putting my all into an opponent that can match me, but then there's the chance of losing… and I don't like losing… but such is the life of a medabot. When we made it to the Dean's office, both of us entered and were shown to his office.

"Ah, Mr. Coleman," He greeted, "Please, come in."

We entered as Chief closed the door behind us.

"So, how can I help you?" He inquired, and then looked at me, "And who's this?"

"This is my partner, Aimflash. Anyway, I was curious about the medabots class I volunteered for." Chief answered, "I didn't get any email about it yet, so I was wondering what floor and room number it was in."

He slapped his head as if he suddenly remembered something.

"I'm so sorry." Dean Carlisle sighed, "I know yesterday I sent those emails out personally, but I forgot that the electricians had to shut down the internet for a while so they could do maintenance on the electrical systems. I guess the email must have been lost somewhere along the way and failed to send."

"It would make sense." Chief shrugged.

"But now since the systems are working normally again I'll be sure to send those emails out once again to ensure that all the participating students have it."

"Alright, sounds good. Thanks Dean Carlisle."

"No, thank YOU." He chuckled.

We both glimpsed at each other as we exited the Dean's office and made it back to the hallway.

"Alright Chief," I started, "So where to?"

"Uhh…" He answered as he looked at the piece of paper again, "I'm not sure. Maybe take a look at the social area on the first floor?"

"Don't see why not."

It took us about five minutes to get there, and when we arrived Chief bought a drink from a vending machine before we sat down at one of the tables to relax for a moment. I looked around at the hustle and bustle of the other students; hearing the constant chatter and infused conversations all the while.

"Hey Chief," I began, "We never checked our parts library last night."

"Oh yeah," He nodded as he put the cap on his drink, "I forgot about that actually."

He then held his wrist up and opened the holographic interface on his medawatch. From there he opened the parts menu and changed it so he could see both the left arm and right arm lists at the same time.

"Alright Aim," He started as I made my way over to see the interface as well, "We said we needed something fast, yet powerful; like a rifle, so let's start there."

He skimmed through the list as we both searched for any rifle or gun type medaparts. As a quick note, Chief's one of those people that likes to have one of every part he obtains, two if the part's really useful. Anything higher than that is either sold to a medaparts shop or is used to trade with other people for parts. We eventually narrowed our search down to the right arm Aiming Rifle of DOG-1, the right arm Assault Rifle of DOG-0, right arm Needle Gun from SAB-0, and right arm Shoot Sphere from KLN-1. We WOULD have looked at close-range attack parts, but I feel I excel more at shooting attacks more than I do melee-based ones. Due to this we often don't have a lot of strike parts in our library at any given time; maybe one or two, but not anything SUPER powerful or worth incorporating into a strategy; just mainly used as backup parts for whatever reason. Sure, at this point I can hear people say, 'well then that makes you completely susceptible to shooting traps.', and both Chief and I have heard this more times than we can count. Though that may be a good point, shooting traps can be my bane since they pretty much target ME every time, unless I have a teammate that's a shooting bot as well, but we've learned to carefully time our attacks so that we only use shooting attack when we have to when a shooting trap is set. So yeah, we have a way around it; I'm not totally defenseless to them ya know. WE also decided to keep most of our search to right arms since my left arm is already a quick-shooting weapon, though we kept our options open with left arms as well. As we continued our inquiry and tested the possibilities on the holo-test app until some girl came up from nowhere, or at least from somewhere we weren't looking, and cleared her throat.

"Excuse me," She said, laying a hand down on the seat across from Chief, "Is this seat taken?"

Chief looked up and immediately broke into a flustered look. Uh-oh… I think I know where this is going. I gave that girl a quick look over. She was likely no older than Chief, green-eyed and blonde, and wearing a navy blue tank top and denim pants with tennis shoes. Gotta say, she's cute; no wonder Chef suddenly blushed.

"Not at all." Chief finally managed to say as he tried to hide in the holographic interface of his watch.

She sat down and sighed; likely she'd been busy exploring the campus like me and Chief. After a few seconds of silence between the three of us, she took a look at Chief's parts library, and I'm assuming read it in reverse, before speaking.

"Looking for a part in particular?" She asked.

"Sorta," Chief returned, "See, Aim and I just robattled an opponent yesterday. And he had regeneration in his move set…"

What is wrong with you Chief? You're stuttering and losing focus like a blathering numbskull, get it together; you're better than that!

"And we wanted to see if we had any parts on hand that could allow us to attack a little faster to counteract it." I said, finishing for Chief.

"Regeneration huh?" She repeated, "That can be a pretty tough move to counteract. Can I see what you have?"

"Uhm…" Chief stuttered, "Sure."

She made her way around to Chief's other side and skimmed through the parts we had selected as she thought hard.

"Well I can see what you're looking for," She started, "You want something fast, but powerful."

"That's right." I said, "My viewfinder laser is tough, but if the opponent can regenerate, it won't mean a thing if they block with their arm and then heal it while I recharge for another shot."

"Understandable, have you considered a missile type part at all? It'll cost you a bit more speed than you wanted, but maybe?"

Chief and I looked at each other in confusion. Missile? Yeah those are some powerful parts, but they're even slower than lasers. I need to know why she chose that type of attack in particular, and Chief wanted to know too as I saw the look in his face.

"Why missile?" He asked, "Those are slower than lasers."

"They CAN be." She agreed, "But you need to remember that they have chain damage. So even if you target the head and they block with an arm, it may still be likely that some of the damage will still hit the head. Plus, Regenerate only works on one part at a time, so the chain damage will prove even more useful."

Huh, not a bad idea actually. This girl may know what she's talkin' about after all.

"I think we may have one missile part." I said, "Maybe two, though I'm not sure."

Chief made a quick search and did find one result in his library. It was the right arm of BRK-0 'Baron Castle'. Oh yeah, I remember that fight. Pretty easy in general, but Baron Castle was like one of the strongest defenders I ever saw with both Shooting Guard and Melee Guard in his arsenal. Chief and I looked at each other again as we did agree that it'd be worth a shot to at least try.

"That could work," Chief nodded, "I wonder why I never thought about the chain damage factor before…"

"Just remember that you will need to target earlier than you're used to since missiles are slow to launch."

"Definitely."

Chief then looked at her, and then struggled to hold the blush back again.

"You sure seem to know what you're talking about." He said shyly, "What's your name?"

"Natalie." She answered, giggling a bit, "Natalie Mayweather. And I should since I AM a medafighter after all."

"Marcus." Chief returned, "Marcus Coleman, and this is Aimflash."

"Nice to meet you," She said, "Lemme call my medabot over here real quick."

She pulled out her phone and pressed a couple buttons on the screen before putting it back in her pocket.

"Umm…" I started, "Don't you use a medawatch to call and talk to your bot?"

"Not with this." Natalie grinned as she pulled her phone back out and showed us an app called 'Medawatch' on it, "This app works just like a medawatch does. You can talk to your medabot, transport parts, and even manage your library all in this app for smartphones."

"That's pretty sweet." Chief said, "I don't have a smartphone though, so it's the ole' medawatch for me."

"Nothing wrong with that," She replied, "I actually keep mine on my wrist anyway, I just don't use it unless I have to."

It was about that moment that a very familiar face walked up to meet us.

"You called, Miss Natalie?" He asked.

No way, Sherlock?! I thought he belonged to Watson; and Chief apparently though so too when I saw the look in his face.

"Sherlock?" I asked.

"Oh, why hello Aimflash. Fancy meeting you again."

Now Natalie was confused.

"Wait, you guys know each other already?" She wondered.

"Why of course," Sherlock answered, "It's elementary my dear Miss Natalie; Masters Marcus and Aimflash were the ones that rescued me from that Spitfire yesterday."

Natalie remained silent in thought as everything suddenly hit her.

"Ahh…" She said, "Now I know why you were working on a strategy against regeneration."

"That's right." Chief nodded, "We helped Watson and Sherlock out yesterday and took on that Spitfire."

She then rolled her eyes at the reference to Watson, which caused Chief and I to wonder.

"What?" I asked.

"I am going to KILL him later for doing that to Sherlock…" She grumbled.

"Who?" Chief asked, "Watson?"

"Well if by Watson you mean my younger brother Zack," She returned, "Then yes. I can't believe he robattled with you having no attack parts equipped. Sherlock why didn't you say anything?"

"I did," He responded, "But you know that Master Zachary doesn't quite like listening to reason."

"No kidding…"

"Umm… What's going on here?" Chief asked, being as confused as I was.

"Zack's my brother, but likes to call himself Watson." Natalie explained, "Sherlock however is MY bot. And my brother likes to BORROW Sherlock and use him in robattles when I don't know about it. Now I know why Sherlock came back all dented and mangled last night."

"It certainly was a rather tough time," Sherlock agreed, "But I likely wouldn't have made it home if it weren't for these two."

"Just did what we could to help out." Chief shrugged.

"Well, I really appreciate you doing that for Sherlock." Natalie smiled, "The poor bot honestly doesn't know how to say no to Zack."

"It's not that I DON'T know how to say no," He retorted, "Master Zachary only likes to do the opposite of what is said. Even if I refuse."

"Well then tell 'em this for me." Natalie finished, "If you see Zack before I do, tell 'em that he has an older sister that wants to have a word with him when I get home."

I saw Sherlock gulp and back up a half-step.

"I'll certainly give him the message." He said.

Natalie looked at her phone to check the time.

"Well I gotta run," She said, "But it was really nice to meet you Marcus and Aimflash; and thank you for helping Sherlock yesterday."

"No problem," Chief answered, "Just glad that we could help."

"Well you certainly did. Let's go Sherlock."

"Coming Miss Natalie." He said as they both started off.

Chief suddenly went wide-eyed as if he remembered something.

"Hey," He called back, with Natalie turning to face him, "What classes do you have tomorrow?"

"History."

She apparently caught on to whatever Chief was trying to get across however.

"But I'm free around 3ish if you wanna hang out sometime tomorrow."

"Definitely." Chief returned as Natalie ad Sherlock disappeared into the crowds of students.

I looked up to find a very dreamy look in his eyes. Chief looked back at me and then looked away.

What?" He asked.

"You're blushing." I told him.

"S-so?" He retorted quickly, "What about it?"

I'm beginning to have fun with this. Heh heh…

"I think someone's in love." I sighed dramatically.

"You're nuts if you think so."

"Really? Then why did you turn so red when she walked up to sit down with us?"

"Surprise."

"And the stuttering?"

"You know I'm not good at talking to girls."

That's a fact. Chief talks game and plays the cool dude pretty well, but the second a girl tries talking to 'em, all the confidence he had seconds earlier moves outta the brain to some unknown location. All I'll say is that I'm going to have some serious fun holding this over his head later on, heh heh. Eventually we cooled it and then decided to kill time by looking around the campus a bit more; namely the designated robattle arena around the backside of the building. It took us about ten minutes to get there, including the time it took losing our way once or twice, before we entered the building to get a good look. It was a pretty spacious building completely empty space to fly or float or run in, making it easy to move around. There were bleachers on both sides for the audience to sit on to watch the robattle, and I spotted some strange machines sitting in the corner of the far end of the building. I wonder what those are for? Maybe to provide obstacles during specific robattles? I dunno. There were a few people walking around and talking in here, but no robattles going on at this time. I can only wonder how busy this place is gonna be when classes begin. Well I know for a fact that there are tons of bots here besides me, so there'll definitely be at least one going on per day. At least, that's what I'm figuring anyway; I could be wrong. We didn't spend much time in that building before we turned around and left to head back to our dorm. Things stayed pretty quiet between us as we walked back. So after a few minutes I decided to start a conversation.

"Nice day today, huh Chief?" I said.

"Sure is." He returned.

"Somethin' up?"

"What would make you think that?"

"Chief, we've known each other since you were eight, I can TELL when something's up."

"Well, there have been a couple things."

"Like?"

"The whole College thing for one." He sighed, "It's still hard to believe I'll be starting College classes tomorrow."

"Well ya better believe it pal," I said cheerfully, "Cuz you're here now."

"This is true." He shrugged.

More silence ensued.

"It's about that Natalie girl isn't it?"

Chief remained silent as I watched his cheeks turn pink.

"I can't hide anything from ya can I Aim?" He finally responded.

"We're partners Chief." I answered, "We can read each other like books that no one else can understand."

"Well then ya got me." He surrendered as we entered the main building and headed for the dorms.

"So," I began, "What're your thoughts?"

"Not sure where to start."

"Hmm… let's start with how you met. What first went through your head?"

Chief was silent for a moment as he thought. We arrived back to the door to our dorm by the time he answered.

"This first thought…" He said, "Was holy cow was she cute."

I had a feeling he would say that. We waved at the twins as we closed the door behind us and then enclosed ourselves in our room.

"I can see that." I agreed, "She REALLY was cute; especially with her ponytail draped down her left shoulder."

I could see Chief getting redder by the second as he looked absently around the room.

"So… Anything else?" I then asked.

"Her knowledge of robattling and strategy," He replied, still trying to suppress the blush, "Still can't believe I didn't think of trying missile parts…"

"She sure knew what she was talking about."

"Definitely…"

"I gotta say though, it was definitely a surprise to find out that Sherlock belonged to her."

Chief perked back up from his dreamy state, "I know, right? I thought he belonged to Watson."

"So did I. Talk about a twist."

"No kidding. At least we know that Sherlock's got some combat experience on the winning side at least."

"Or that we assume."

He nodded in agreement.

"Gotta say though," I continued, "I can only wonder what trouble Watson's gonna be in when Natalie finds 'em."

"Ha, that's true." He chuckled, "I haven't seen 'er angry yet, but I know one thing for sure; when a girl is ticked you stay outta her way; or if you're the source of the anger, run for the hills and don't look back."

"And by that you mean stand tall and face it like a man, right?" I added.

We both laughed.

"Well, I'm no love expert," I said, "But my best recommendation would be to take it carefully. Relationships are fragile things ya know."

"I know that." He waved casually, "Mom told me that all the time."

"Just reiterating is all."

"Yes, Mom." He returned sarcastically as we shared another laugh.

"I just want to know one thing." I said, suddenly becoming nervous and uneasy.

"And what's that Aim?"

I paused a moment before speaking.

"Just promise me that, should this relationship of yours with Natalie or whatever girl you end up with go somewhere, promise me that you won't ever replace me."

He got down to my level in surprise that I'd say such a thing.

"I mean, don't get me wrong," I corrected, "I WANT you to be happy and be with a girl, but at the same time I don't wanna end up being forgotten and rust in a corner."

"Well don't worry about that Aim," He assured, "Because we're like brothers. I'm never gonna just replace you with some girl. No matter how serious a relationship will get, just know and remember that we're partners; and partners stick together."

"It feels good to hear that." I said, "I was silly for thinking such a thing in the first place. I got nothing to worry about, cuz nothing will tear us apart."

"Got that right buddy." He smirked.

We did our special handshake with my viewfinder as Chief turned on his laptop to print off a class schedule and get his things together for classes tomorrow. I did take a look at his email inbox to find that he got the email from the Dean about the medabots class. Turns out they'll be meeting Monday through Friday in room 5404 from 6:00 to 7:30 in the evening. Based on what I saw Chief write down for his schedule, that shouldn't be interfering with any of his classes; which will work out great. After Chief finished getting his backpack ready for tomorrow, we decided to spend some time with the twins playing cards and chatting the evening away. About 9:43 hit before everyone agreed to call it a night and get some early sleep for tomorrow. I know that I won't have to go anywhere, but I wanna be up and ready to see Chief off to his first day of College classes; so it wasn't much longer before the dorm went silent and dark.

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**Well, tomorrow starts a new day and a new experience for Marcus as he officially starts College. What'll be there to meet him? Find out next time. Until then, rate and review.**

**MORE MEDABOTS! MORE POWER!**


	5. Chapter 5

***gasp* What's this!? Not an update, not a double update, but A TRIPLE-WHAMMY UPDATE! THREE! POSTED CHAPTERS IN A ROW! AND THE CROWDS GO WILD! :D eh, not really. But I do hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Credit to Natsume for Medabots, me for everyone else, and leave reviews please.**

**Also, thanks to AproposFool89 for Beta Reading for me. It was his efforts that has allowed such an update as this to happen. Glad to be workin' with ya.**

**This chapter is told from Marcus's POV**

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**Chapter 5**

I was up a little later than usual at around 9:00 in the morning to find Inyo and Reno already finished with breakfast and out the door. I guess they had classes that were earlier than mine. I asked Ranger and he verified my thought by saying that Inyo had Chemistry at 9:30, and Reno had Physics around the same time. Ya know for twins I'd expect that they be in the exact same classes, but I guess not. I shrugged it off as I fixed some breakfast and got it in my system. Aim reactivated and greeted me as I headed back to our room about ten minutes later to get my clothes and hop into the shower. I finished around 9:30 and returned to my room to finish any preparations I may need for my first class.

"Need any help Chief?" Aim asked as he entered the room.

"Naw, I'm good Aim," I replied, "Thanks though."

"So you nervous?"

"Sorta, but I'm not gonna let it get to me."

"Excellent plan Chief. You got this."

"That I do." I chuckled as we high-fived each other.

I checked my schedule again and then showed it to Aim so he would have a digital copy to refer to. Looks like my first class doesn't start until 1:30 in the afternoon; so I guess I got time to kill.

"Alright Aim," I started, "I'm gonna go ahead and wait around the door to my Math class. In the meantime, try not to get into any trouble while I'm gone."

"You know me Chief." He shrugged, "Have I EVER gotten into trouble?"

Yes you have Aim, you're just keeping quiet about it.

"Well whether you have or not," I retorted, "Just stick around in the room until I get back from Math. We'll kill time for a couple hours and then we'll head to my Medabots class."

I'm looking forward to that class whole-heartedly. In fact it may just be the reason I do well in College.

"Sounds like a plan." Aim agreed, "I'll catch ya later."

"See ya." I finished as I started for the door.

"You'll do great Chief," He called, "Don't sweat it."

Ranger and Tonto waved goodbye as I exited the dorm and left the bots alone. So let's see… Where was my Math class again? Oh yeah, third floor. I headed in the direction of my class and weaved through the crowds of other students going in all directions. I was about halfway there when some guy bumped into me. And it gets better, the guy doesn't even apologize when his two bots fail to do anything either. I looked over the guy to see he likely was one of THOSE guys, the guys that had trouble written all over 'em. He was dressed kinda like Inyo and Reno, though instead of a white shirt, brown vest, and denim jeans, he had on a black shirt, dark grey vest, and matching black jeans.

"Watch it." He said.

"Last I recall, you bumped into ME." I returned.

"Really… Well I wonder what Gun Desperado and Wild Harry have to say about it."

He motioned for the two bots standing next to him. My heart sank a bit at the names, as I've heard quite a bit on those two; the Guns of High Noon. Wild Harry was very heavily based off of a revolver pistol, and had the ID, WLD-0X. His head was the main mechanism and barrel of the revolver, with a small opening underneath the barrel for his eyes, and the covering on both his legs made the handle. Both of Wild Harry's arms were based on grenades, but still were as powerful as the motif the model was based on. Gun Desperado, though significantly newer and is technically a different model than Wild Harry, was based off of an automatic pistol and had the ID, GDR-0X. Like Wild Harry, and pretty much the only resemblance between the two, Gun Desperado's head was the mechanism and barrel of the gun, though that was basically it as far as resemblance goes. He had two clearly defined and covered legs, and a menacing-looking machine gun each arm. Dang, I'd wanna show this guy his place, but with bots like these I better reconsider if I don't want me and Aim to be shot full of holes at high noon in some ghost town.

"So what do you say boys?" The guy started, "Any thoughts?"

"Give the yellow-belly a chance to run." Wild Harry answered.

"He's not worth our time." Gun Desperado added.

I was getting ticked more and more by the second, but they were at least giving me the chance to let it slide. So I took them up on their offer.

"You know what?" I started, "I'll keep a better watch next time."

"You better." He returned sourly as he continued on his way, with both his twin gun type medabots following.

Sheesh, what was that guy's problem? Well whatever the case, how did that old rhyme go? Flee this day to live and fight another? I dunno, but I know that I hated letting that guy walk all over me like that. Alright Marcus, cool it. Deep breaths… In… out… It could have been worse. Plus I don't wanna start anything and ruin any reputation I may gain while I'm here as being a troublemaker. After narrowly avoiding that whole fiasco, I made it to the door of my class and sat down in a chair to wait. In the matter of a couple hours while I waited, I snagged a drink from a vending machine and flipped through my parts library and organized things in there a bit. About fifteen minutes to 1:30, the class already in there finally finished and let the other students waiting to get in and snag seats. I quietly made my way over to a corner seat and dropped my stuff under my chair after pulling out my notebook and folder for this class. Very likely I won't need them at this moment since this is the first class of the semester, and we likely will just go over the syllabus and rules, but it's better to do it anyway and show the teacher that I actually care. Apparently it paid off as the Professor looked up from his desk to see me, and my notebook, waiting patiently. About ten minutes to 1:30, a few more students rolled in, including a girl that took the open seat next to me. She dug through her backpack and then signed in irritation. My interest was piqued, but I did my best to remain silent. If she needs help then SHE'LL be the one to ask. To my surprise however, since I was expecting the opposite, she did actually come to me for help.

"Excuse me," She said, her voice like a serenade, "Would you have a spare pencil for me to borrow?"

"Uhm…" I returned, suddenly feeling flustered, "Sure. Lemme check."

Holy cow I never expected her to sound that melodious. Alright Marcus, just breathe, be cool, and just relax. I fished another pencil outta my backpack and handed it to her. It was then that I was able to steal a glimpse of this girl. Red-tipped, dyed most likely, brown hair, with her bangs covering one of her blue eyes completely. She had a basic white t-shirt on with a simple brown knee-length skirt. Why me? WHY ME?! I'm terrible at talking to girls as it is, and yet I get stuck face-to-face with all the gorgeous ones. I'm gonna look like a nutcase at this rate; better stick with my plan of keeping it cool. Just breathe Marcus, just…breathe…

"Here." I said.

"Thanks so much," She returned, "I really appreciate it."

"No problem, umm…"

"Mallory."

"Mallory. I'm Marcus."

"Well it's great to make your acquaintance Marcus, just call me Mal."

I could feel my cheeks beginning to turn red with every word she said. No! No, just cool it Marcus, you got this. Don't let 'er see you blush.

"Likewise." I replied.

It was then that the last of the students entered the class and the instructor checked the clock and got up from his seat to begin class. Ya know for once I'm actually relieved that class was starting, I dunno how much longer I would've been able to keep my cool talking to Mallory… gosh…

"Good afternoon class." The Professor started, easily noticing the German accent in his voice, "I am Professor Albrecht, and I will be taking you through the Math course for this semester."

Professor Albrecht went on, just as I had figured, about the rules and requirements of this class and what we were expected to do as students. Basic stuff. Ya know, things like turning in homework when ya walk into class, showing my work for partial credit to wrong answers, not talking during lecture, staying on topic, et cetera. We finished class with a short, written quiz regarding the syllabus and the rules of the classroom, easy peasy. Just as we all were packing up to leave at 3:30 in the afternoon, Mallory's first instinct apparently was to return my pencil.

"Thanks for letting me borrow this." She said as I took the pencil from her.

"No prob." I replied, "Glad to help."

"So you have any other classes today?"

"Nope, just this one class today."

"Awesome."

"I know, right?"

Silence ensued as we both walked out the door and to the front lobby.

"Well…" She started again, "I'll see you later maybe?"

"Don't see why not." I shrugged, "What dorm are you in?"

"Pigeon Blood."

Hmm… I think that was in the other building across from the Theodra Beryl and Blue Corundum Dorms. That building seemed bigger though, so maybe it has the Hardness Ten and Almandine dorms in it too. Ah well, it's just a guess.

"What about you?" She asked.

"Me?" I repeated, "I'm in the Theodra Beryl dorms."

"Oh," She responded, though I could sense a slight tinge of disappointment, "Ok, cool."

More awkward silence ensued. Curse you awkward silence! Why do you haunt me so?!

"Well, I gotta split." I began, "Gotta head back to my room and check on Aim."

She suddenly became confused, "Who?"

"My partner, Aimflash. I just call 'em Aim for short."

"Ah, alright. Well I'll see you around then Marcus."

"Same to you Mal."

I could see her cheeks turn a little pink at hearing me say her name, so I decided that I should go ahead and make my exit now before things get even more awkward. Gosh why am I this way around girls? I get so flustered and most of this time can barely put a sentence together. I hurried to the Theodra Beryl dorms and room forty-seven. I unlocked the door with my key and entered to find either of the twins nowhere to be found; possibly still at classes I guess. Aim was the first to greet me as he walked out of our room.

"How'd it go Chief?" He asked.

"Pretty good," I returned, "Just went over the rules of class, and stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Yeah, stuff."

"Would that stuff be a girl with brown hair and red tips?"

My heart jumped. How in the world could you know that Aim?! There's no way you're psychic!

"I saw her follow you until she lost ya in the crowds." He shrugged, "Watched the whole thing from our window."

"And how would you know that she WAS following me?" I bluffed.

Ha! That oughta get 'em off my trail.

"I saw a sort of distressed look on her face when she lost sight of ya in the crowd of other people." He replied, as he held up his viewfinder, "I can zoom pretty darn close on this baby."

Dang it… I thought I had 'em…

"Still…" I managed to say.

"Still my foot, Romeo." Aim retorted.

"Ha ha ha… Very funny Genius. Happy now?"

"Very much so."

I rolled my eyes as I walked around 'em and entered our room. The things me and Aim do with each other; you'd think we belonged in a psyche ward. I tossed my backpack on my chair and then laid down on my bed to take a breath. Well, my first College class under my belt. Now I have around two and a half hours to kill before Aim and I gotta be at the Medabots class. Speaking of which, I better check that email again and see if Aim's even allowed to come. I got back up and opened my laptop and clicked on my email icon. I typed in my password for my school email and sent a message to the Dean since I simply responded to the email he sent. He replied about five minutes later and said that he was more than welcome to attend, and it was in fact encouraged that I bring 'em along. Huh, pretty awesome if you ask me. Aim reentered our room as I said that he was coming with me to Medabots class. He seemed pretty hyped about going. I then remembered that I had to meet Natalie in about twenty minutes and put away my stuff before walking back out the door with Aim. Ranger and Tonto looked up from their spots to ask a question.

"Where're you headed to so quickly?" Ranger asked.

"Gotta meet someone in a few minutes." I answered, "See you guys later."

"Have fun, Kemosabe." Tonto waved as I closed the door behind Aim.

Honestly I had no clue where to meet Natalie since we didn't agree on a meeting place. Ah well, I guess we'll just wait near the place we first met yesterday. We made our way to the social area and waited. About ten minutes passed before Natalie was in sight and then found us. Behind her was Sherlock, who was definitely looking better than he did a couple days ago.

"Looks like we had the same idea to meet here." Aim started as they met us.

"Sure did." Natalie agreed, "When we agreed to meet today I completely forgot to ask about WHERE; so Sherlock and I decided to wait here."

"That was pretty much our plan." I chuckled, "Just glad that we were still able to meet up anyway."

She giggled at my comment; and it was then that I started feeling flustered again. Gosh why does this happen to me?! I looked around to avoid eye contact as long as I could.

"So." She began, "Where should we go?"

"Ahh…. I actually don't know…" I sighed as I scratched my head.

"Perhaps we could try an eatery outside of the campus?" Sherlock offered.

"Eatery?" Aim repeated, "You mean, a restaurant?"

"Indubitably."

"Well than why didn't you just say restaurant?"

"It's elementary my dear Aimflash, I'm based off of the well-renowned BRITISH detective, Sherlock Holmes."

What? You don't say…

"That I can see." Aim replied, "So are you suggesting that they go on a date?"

My heart jumped outta my chest when he said that. And apparently Natalie's did too as we both looked at 'em and said "IT'S NOT A DATE!" at the same time. Immediately afterwards, both of our cheeks turned bright red as we looked away and around the social area.

"Sheesh…" Aim shrugged, "Just askin' is all."

Thank you Aim, now I'm super mega embarrassed in front of a super attractive girl. Remind me to clobber you later. Gosh…

"Well then…" Sherlock started, hoping to break the sudden silence and change the topic, "So an eatery is out of the question. Why not a simple walk in the park then?"

Still speechless and beet red, I nodded slowly as I saw Natalie do the same.

"To the park it is." Aim agreed as we started off.

Eventually Natalie and I regained the ability to speak again as we walked down the street and into the park area. It was easily as populated as it was a couple days ago with people of all ages and an equal amount of medabots. After a while we all started opening up and talking casually. One thing I learned about Natalie was that she was originally from New York, but moved here about four years ago because Shotown was the only university close to her that offered the culinary course she was looking for. I told her that I was going for a major in robotics since I wanted to work with medabots as a career. Gosh I've always wanted to do that, ever since I was five. That dream has stuck with me and I fully intend to make the dream a reality. Natalie told me that she really enjoyed cooking, and dreamed of owning a restaurant one day; hence for pursuing a career in cooking. Heh, she's cute AND she cooks, yowza. We talked the couple hours away and eventually walked back to the campus together. Strangely enough, as Aim and I left to head to the Medabots class, Natalie and Sherlock followed us like a shadow. It was only by the time that we made it to the door that we all suddenly realized that we were in the same class! Holy stinkin' cow!

"Wait a second," I stammered, "You're in this class too?!"

"And you are too?!" Natalie returned.

"Newsflash," Aim started, "Boyfriend/girlfriend pair Marcus and Natalie shocked to be in exact same class! Surprises all-round!"

"WE ARE NOT BOYFRIEND/GIRLFIREND!" Natalie and I shouted in unison.

We looked away again in complete embarrassment. Why do you do this Aim?! WHY MUST YOU HUMILIATE ME SO?!

"Yes, well hrrm," Sherlock interrupted, "Why not go inside and find seats, shall we?"

We all agreed in silence as we entered the classroom and found two empty seats near the back. And it just so happened that both those seats were right next to each other. Great… just, great. Natalie took the seat near the window as I took the one next to her. I was interrupted by two familiar faces from across the room.

"Well lookie who's in this class." Inyo greeted.

I looked at them in surprise.

"Wait," I said, "YOU'RE in here too?"

"Why not?" Reno shrugged.

This class has certainly had its share of surprises already, and it hasn't even started yet. Though suddenly went downhill when another familiar face walked through the door, with two gun type medabots walking behind him. And just my luck, they singled me out.

"Well look who we have here." Gun Desperado chuckled.

"If it isn't the Yellowbelly from earlier." Wild Harry finished.

"Deciding to bone up and learn how to fight like a real man I see?" The guy asked.

"Umm, Chief?" Aim asked, "You know these guys?"

Only too well. And they had to pick now to humiliate me, when there was a girl in the vicinity. Thank you so much dude… Thank you.

"We ran into each other in the hall earlier today." I replied.

"Well whatever the case," Aim responded as he stepped forward to stand between me and the twin gun types, "If you guys have somethin' to say about 'em I have a little somethin' to say back."

"Oh, and that would be what exactly?" He answered, "Because as you can see I have a pair of guns whose trigger fingers are just itching to hear what you have to say."

Both Wild Harry and Gun Desperado chuckled and they looked at each other. Thankfully we were saved by the teacher as he walked into the classroom and quelled anything that would have potentially taken place.

"That will be quite enough Mr. Holemann." He said, "You have no need to intimidate the other students of this class while I'M around."

He said nothing as he backed off and took the seat behind me, with both his bots standing nearby the desk to stay close. Aim backed off as the teacher continued to the front of the class to begin. Before he did however, I nearly dropped my jaw at who followed behind the teacher to close the door and then stand next to him. It was the great-horned, red and white, legend himself, KBT-4 "Arcbeetle". It may not be the one I saw in tourneys I watched on TV, but I know for a darn fact that this dude can pack a serious punch! And apparently the rest of the class knew it was they began whispering in surprise and awe.

"Evening class," The teacher greeted, "I first want to welcome you to the trial-semester of the Medabots workshop course. I'm Professor Arthur Winthrop, and this here is my partner, Aegis."

Aegis did nothing as he leaned up against the wall in silence.

"Now," Professor Winthrop began, "Let's start with roll call shall we? I'll simply say your name, and you raise your hand. On a note however, I will be saying both you and your partner's names, so I know that you ALL are here. Agreed?"

Everyone either nodded or said something to answer.

"Good," He said as he picked up a piece of paper from his desk, "Now then… Marcus Coleman and Aimflash."

I raised my hand as Aim raised his left arm.

"Inyo Truckee and Tonto."

They raised their hands.

"Reno Truckee and Ranger."

They followed suit, though the professor had a double take moment as he looked back at the twins to make sure he wasn't seeing double. Heh heh… That was classic, I honestly wish Aim snapped a picture of that.

"Natalie Mayweather and Pipe Brain."

Natalie raised her hand as Sherlock raised his magnifying glass.

"Samuel Holemann, Wild Harry, and Gun Desperado."

The guy behind me and his two bots raised their hands.

"Mallory Rider and Shin Saber."

They rose their hands. No way, she's in here too? And with a sweet-looking samurai type as her bot no less? Double-whammy man, double-whammy…

"Shaun Flemming and Spitfire."

A dude at the front raised his hand. Wait a sec… Holy cow… that's the dude that Aim and I beat the other day to save Sherlock! Small world, but I can only imagine that things won't end up for me so well since there are two people in this class already that apparently hate my guts. One I know the reason for, and the other I have no clue.

"Hector Sparrow and Piraskull."

A guy on the other side of the front raised his hand as a pirate's sword did as well.

"Call me Barbossa Cap'n," He said, "It's what everyone calls me."

"Well in here, I will simply call everyone by their proper name." Professor Winthrop replied.

"Alice Silverwind and Ready-Go."

A girl with flaming red hair about midway back on the other side of the classroom raised her hand, as did a female ninja type. Wait a sec… Ready-Go?! That's like the latest and hottest model on the market right now, and it's been out for about eight months. I looked at the girl next, and I gotta say, I don't think I've ever seen hair that vibrant before…

He went on and read about fifteen more pairs of names before putting the paper back on his desk.

"Alright then," He said, "Everyone's here. That makes everything so much easier."

He then pulled out another sheet of paper.

"Now for this class, you all will be paired off in teams of three. Now I understand that a couple of you have more than one medabot, and therefore will have four bots in your group. Don't worry, I'll cover the rules for that when I'm through setting up the groups. Ok… Marcus, Natalie, and Samuel are one group."

… I'm both ecstatic and bummed at the same time. Ecstatic that a beautiful girl's a part of my group, but then bummed that Samuel's part of it. This group's gonna have some serious diversity, I'll say that much.

"Mallory, Inyo, and Reno are another group." The professor continued as those three mingled and changed seats to sit together.

He went on and split everyone into eight groups of three.

"Now that we have groups out of the way," Professor Winthrop finished, "I want you, if necessary, to change seats with other people so that your groups can sit together, and then talk about each of the roles you think you best serve in a robattle."

Samuel reluctantly took the seat next to me as we then heard the rustling of people and seats, as well as people talking amongst themselves. Well I know this for a fact, Aim and I are leaders all the way! We led every team we were on to victory in tourneys, except for maybe one or two, and the proved it again when we saved Sherlock from Spitfire.

"I'll go ahead and start." I said, not hearing anyone from our group speak up, "Aim and I are natural leaders. When we're at the helm there shouldn't be any doubt in your mind that victory is ours."

"You?" Samuel retorted, "Leaders? Ha!"

"And what would your specialty be?" Aim asked sarcastically.

"Gunning the opponent down." Wild Harry answered.

"And making sure they don't get back up." Gun Desperado finished.

Oh, that's a REAL strategy for ya. At least Aim and I plan our moves and at least have a frame of reference whenever we get into a robattle.

"Well than Sam-" I started, but was cut off.

"That's Trigger to you." He returned sharply.

"Boys," Natalie interjected, "Calm down will you? We're a team, we need to work together."

We both looked at each other again and then growled as we looked away.

"So we understand that Marcus and Aimflash feel they excel in leading a team." Sherlock began, "And we understand that…Trigger… and his two bots excel in long-distance fighting."

"That'd be correct this far," Natalie agreed, "Or at least based on what I assumed anyway. Well as you can see, Sherlock doesn't specialize in attacking, so we feel comfortable in more of a support role. But we can still fight if we need to."

Trigger snorted.

"Support has no place in an actual robattle." He said, "The only role that exists in a robattle is offense, and winner is determined by who has more power."

Now it was Natalie and Sherlock's turn to be offended, and both Aim and I could see the look in their faces.

"I beg your pardon?" Sherlock questioned.

"You heard 'em Pipe-head." Wild Harry said.

"You don't belong here!" Gun Desperado finished.

"Excuse me?!" Natalie fumed, "Would you like to run that by me again?"

"I'd be more than happy to." Trigger finished.

Now it was Aim and I's turn to intervene, but we didn't get the chance as Aegis nipped our dispute in the bud.

"Marcus and Aimflash are your team's designated leaders." He said firmly, "The rest of you fail to show self-control or respect, both of which are traits of leaders. End of story."

"WHAT?!" Both gun types bellowed as he walked away, "WHY WE OUGHTA SHOW YOU YOUR PLACE FOR SAYIN' THINGS LIKE THAT!"

They both charged at Aegis's turned backside, but in the split second it took them to reach within a foot of 'em, Aegis had both the barrels of their heads under both arms and threw them across the room in a single judo flip across the room. All in one swift motion no less! The entire class went silent as the humiliated gun types shakily rose to their feet and walked back to stand next to Trigger in silence, with Aegis only giving them a glare as they passed by. I was not only amazed by Aegis's skill, but also utterly embarrassed that our team was now on the south end reputation wise. Apparently Aim and Natalie and Sherlock had the same thoughts running through their heads as we sighed in exasperation. Thankfully Professor Winthrop shrugged it off when Aegis took care of the problem and everyone went back to talking amongst their groups. Eventually the professor called everyone's attention back to him and then called up who was going to be everyone's group leaders. I got up, as did Mallory, Alice, and the other voted leaders from the other groups. Mallory gave me a friendly wave and a sweet smile as our bots then stood next to us. I looked past her to Alice and saw a huge scar on Alice's face; like smack over her left eye for all to see. I'm left to ask myself how in the world a girl as pretty as her can stand in front of class of students like this and not even bat an eye regarding having that scar on her face. She stood there so stoically, like she honestly could have cared less if the other students were even there.

"Alright then, team leaders," Professor Winthrop said, "Look to your left and your right. These people are your rivals for the duration of the semester. How you go about taking care of your team and their well-being and training is now for you to decide. At the end of the semester I will be giving your teams a single grade based on how well you coordinate your attacks strategically, how well you and your teammates work together inside and outside of robattles, and how well your team participates in activities. All this will be given one final grade in the robattle tournament I will be holding at the end of the semester. As a little incentive… Each victory your team receives in that tournament will be given three points of extra credit to your team's final grade, granted you apply what you learn here in class."

Sweet deal. This class should be a piece of cake, granted that we can actually GET ALONG with each other since there's already hard feelings amongst ourselves in our team.

"As a way to assist you," He continued, "I highly recommend establishing modes of communication and synchronizing your free time to maximize your training sessions and exercise what you learn here in class."

That was the first thing everyone did as they went back to talking amongst their groups. I exchanged phone numbers with both Natalie and Trigger, and I gotta say that was the easiest time I EVER had when it came to getting a girl's number. Eventually everyone finished as Professor Winthrop went on to cover the rules of class, including no robattling or use of attacks, keeping quiet when the professor was speaking, and most of all to study hard and learn well. Basic rules of any other classroom, nothing special; the only difference was the there was a very firm medabot in the room to keep us in line, and two of my team's members learned that the hard way already. After class we all went our separate ways to go back to our dorms. Reno, Ranger, and Tonto met Aim and I outside the classroom, but surprisingly not Inyo.

"Where's Inyo?" I asked.

"Talking with Mallory," Reno answered, "Though I suspect it's more than talking."

Aim and I's interest was aroused instantly as we turned around and peeked back inside the classroom to find both Inyo and Mallory talking happily about something. And Reno was right, I could see a spark in Inyo's eye that easily said that he was greatly enjoying himself. Likely Mallory was as well, but I couldn't see since her backside was to us. Finally Tonto interrupted the moment and called 'em back so we could go back to our dorm together. The whole time though, Inyo had a very dreamy look in his face. I glimpsed over at Aim and we both silently agreed on one thing- Inyo was head over heels for Mallory. Pulling out my phone however and checking Natalie's number, I had a feeling I was beginning to fall for someone too; though I won't say anything yet for two reasons. One is that it's still too early to tell if there really IS anything between Natalie and me, and the other is cuz Aim would have a field day holding this over my head… As if he wasn't doing that already.

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**Ahh… Love seems to be in the air for Inyo, and Marcus if he'll actually admit it. But more than that, looks like things are gonna be interesting when it comes to training and working as teams. What'll happen next? Find out next time, but until then, rate and review will ya?**

**And credit to AproposFool89 for Alice Silverwind, just didn't wanna reveal it until she was introduced.**

**MORE MEDABOTS! MORE POWER!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, Steam here with another update. Gotta say that my Beta and I are on fire when it comes to workin on these chapters. So anyway, here's Chapter 6 for you to enjoy.**

**Credit to Natsume and Medabots, myself for everyone else, and AproposFool89 for both Beta Reading for me and for Alice Silverwind.**

**I greatly appreciate reviews, so please leave one will ya? I don't wanna be forced to withhold chapters. I don't wanna do that to you guys, so leave a review please.**

**This chapter is from Reno's POV**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Since Inyo and I had later classes today, we slept in a bit before actually getting up and getting ready. I had History today while he had English. Neither of us minded our classes, nor did we mind that we were in different classes, because of you ask me, it'd be better this way. Can't tell you how many times in the past people have mistaken me for Inyo or vice versa. Sure as kids we used to do that on purpose just to tease the teachers, but we're in College now, so those sorts of gags are best left at home. I roused Inyo from his sleep as I hopped in the shower to get ready. As I left the bathroom about fifteen minutes later, he tagged in as I headed to the kitchenette for breakfast. Inyo finished his morning routine by joining me for scrambled eggs and toast. Marcus and Aimflash woke up just as we finished eating and washed up our dishes.

"Mornin," I greeted, "Sleep well?"

Marcus mumbled something lazily as he pulled out a bowl and his cereal.

"I'll take that as a yes." Inyo chuckled.

"Don't mind 'em," Aimflash shrugged, "He's always like this in the mornings."

"I wonder if any of our teammates are the same?" I asked.

It was then that Marcus almost literally jumped from the table and went wide-eyed.

"Shoot…" He grumbled, "I forgot to ask Natalie and Trigger when the best time to train for today is."

He hazily skipped back to his room and returned with his phone in hand about three minutes later to continue breakfast.

"Inyo," I started, "You talk to Mallory about OUR training today?"

"She said to meet outside the front doors of the main building after our last class of the day." He said.

So let's see… Inyo's English class started at 11:00 and ended at 2:30. My History class started about thirty minutes later, but ended around 1:00. I'm not sure about Mallory's classes for today, but I know that I may likely be the first to finish if I recall correctly. About thirty minutes later we all headed out the door and separated to go to our classes. Marcus and I had History on the same day, though we had different teachers on different sides of the building. Inyo headed to his English class, and I headed to my own History class to wait for it to start. When I arrived, sure enough the previous class was still in session, though several students were sitting on the lounge area to relax and wait patiently. As I took a seat, I noticed a familiar face sitting right across from me. It was that girl from the medabots class. Shoot, what was her name… Ah yes, Alice. She was keeping herself busy with something on her phone, though she had more of a bored look on her face. I was however able to give her a quick look-over. She was wearing a short, black-colored, dress lined in blue with matching boots, and she had a short braid that was tied in the back as her long hair draped down behind her head. I looked around and saw that everyone else was busy keeping themselves occupied as well. Deciding to break the ice with an apparent fellow classmate, I started up a conversation.

"Waiting for History class?" I asked.

No answer, not even a twitch of the eye. So I cleared my throat. Finally her attention was caught.

"I am." She replied.

"Favorite subject?"

"No."

"Ah, what would it be then?"

"You seem to like prying into people's business."

"Just wanting to get to know my classmates better."

"And why is that?"

"It's just who I am."

"I see."

She sighed a moment before speaking again.

"If you must know I more prefer P.E. than anything else."

"Alright, cool." I nodded, "That's a pretty fun one, History would probably trump that for me though."

"Interesting, now stop bugging me."

"Just wanting to break the ice is all."

"Well then you'll be swinging your icepick for a while, now go away."

Ouch. I can easily see that she doesn't want to be disturbed. Ah well, I tried at least. A few minutes later the other History class was let out as we all rolled in and took seats. Alice however picked a seat on the side opposite of me, was I really that much of a pest? I honestly doubt it, I generally know when to back off, and I just felt led to keep going. Class started about five minutes later as we started our first official lesson on the Babylonian Empire and planned to work our way through early world history for the first section. We covered the general culture of the Babylonians, though I couldn't help but keep stealing glances of Alice from where I was sitting. And I had picked a seat closer to the rear of the classroom, and Alice took one near the front, so it honestly wasn't hard. I don't know why I was, there was just something about her that interested me. What that was I may never know, I only met her officially…well, officially as in I know her name, last night. Was it how she talked or looked or dressed? I don't know. After class I delayed my leaving to intercept her as we walked out the door. It actually worked.

"So you have any other classes today?" I asked.

No answer as she continued ahead and left me behind. Hmm… I honestly have no clue what's drawing me to this girl, but I do know one thing… She apparently isn't a people person. I shrugged it off as I decided to stroll around the campus while I waited for Mallory and Inyo to finish their classes. As I walked outside however, I was able to catch sight of one of Marcus's teammates walking this way. Ah what was her name? May as well start up a conversation.

"Hey." I greeted.

"Hi." She returned.

"You're one of Marcus's teammates, right?"

"That's right."

"Glad that I remembered, and you are…"

"Natalie. And you?"

"Reno. I'm one of Marcus's roommates. I'm on another team in the medabots class though."

"Ah, ok. Cool, so what's up?"

"I was just curious if you knew anything about Alice Silverwind. See I have her as a classmate in my History class, as well as in our medabots class, and for some reason she seems kind of…"

"Cold?" She finished.

Wait a second… how does she know?

"Yeah actually," I responded, "How do you know?"

"Because she's my roommate."

Ahh… That would make perfect sense.

"She's a little cold initially," Natalie continued, "But she did tell me that she's nicer to people she knows."

"Knows as in how?" I asked, "Like, knows like as a friend? Or family? Or…"

"I dunno, she never really talks to me or Sherlock when we're in the room, and Natsu's even quieter than that."

"Natsu?" I inquired.

"Her medabot. Professor Winthrop called her by her model name last night, Ready-Go."

"Ah yes, I remember now. She's even quieter than Alice?"

"Based on what Sherlock's told me so far." Natalie shrugged, "Every time he tried to strike up a conversation he was shot down and ignored."

"Sounds like she doesn't want to be talked to." I shrugged.

"Maybe," Natalie agreed, "But still, it really makes one wonder why she's like that. What made her that way?"

"Well when you figure out an answer, let me know. I've been trying to figure it out all through my History class today."

Natalie giggled, "I'll be sure to. Well I gotta head to my next class, so I guess I'll see you later tonight in medabots class?"

"Definitely, take care."

"Likewise."

She then headed off into the building. Eventually Inyo joined me outside as we waited for Mallory to arrive. Thankfully neither of us had other classes today, so it would definitely help us be able to maximize a general training session before we get to class and cover actual topics and strategies to master. At around 3:00 we called Ranger and Tonto over to meet us at our spot, and they did so just as Mallory and Shin Saber walked outside to meet us.

"Hey guys," She greeted sweetly, "Sorry I'm late. I got held up in class."

Inyo was the first of us to speak.

"N-no worries Mal," He said as I noticed the blush in his cheeks, "It's fine, happens to everybody."

"Same here." I agreed, deciding to lend my twin a helping hand, "So don't worry about it."

"Aww… You guys are just too sweet." She smiled, "So shall we go find a place to practice?"

"Why not the park?" Ranger asked, "Plenty of space there to train and move around."

"It would be," Shin Saber agreed, "But it's far too open. And if we were to practice a special team-based move, there would be no way to hide it from other members of the medabots class that may be either spying or training there."

"You bring up a good point Kemosabe," Tonto said, "So with that said, would you have a suggestion for a place to train?"

Mallory stepped in.

"I know a good place in the middle of town we could try." She said, "It's not that populated, but it's an old construction zone that was left and never returned to. It's nice and spacious, so we could definitely use it to practice what we learn I class."

"Don't see why not." Inyo shrugged, "So shall we be off then?"

He held his arm out for Mallory as she held it with one arm. I know that Mom and Dad taught us to be gentlemanly to women, but in all honesty I've never seen Inyo this into it. I mean, yes it's the proper thing to do, but he never once did this in the past without prompting; and I normally was the one to do the prompting. But this time, I didn't say a word. Is my brother really this infatuated with her? Yes, she is very pretty, though we've seen a lot of girls like her in the past, and even back home in Colorado. What makes Mallory so different? Eventually we reached the old construction site to already find someone here. More specifically, THREE someones and an equal amount of medabots. It turns out that Alice had taken her team here to practice and beat us to it. Looking at the team however, there was certainly a lot if diversity to put into a team. I could see Natsu moving around like the ninja she was, easily as swift as the wind. Over on one side was Hector and Piraskull, whom the latter was improving his speed to get around the fact he had one working foot and the other was a peg leg; and I must say that I think it may be paying off. Over in the other corner of their triangle was the third member of their team, a guy that had KKZ-0 "Cutter" as his bot; whom was practicing his stabbing speed with both his arms. They all seemed to have been busy with their own individual training sessions, though our presence was sighted by Hector.

"AVAST CAP'N!" He called, "I SPOT SPIES OFF YOUR 7:00!"

Alice turned to find us three with our bots watching.

"Well what do you want?" She asked.

"Well we came here thinking we could use the area to train." Mallory explained.

"Sorry to disappoint Lass," Hector grinned, "But we made here first whether ya like it or not."

"Oh, ok." She said, though easily able to sense the disappointment in her voice.

I could see the look in Inyo's face, he was going to do something…

"What if we robattle for it?" He called, "You win, we leave. We win, we'll share this spot on joint days."

"Forget it!" The other guy called, "We found this spot first Alice, there's no way I'm gonna let these second-rate medafighters just take it from us!"

"Cool it Karlos." Alice refuted, though it looked like Inyo's wager really piqued her.

I'm not sure whether to say "good call" or "you dummy" at this point. Mallory on the other hand in complete shock that he was bold enough to make such a call for her.

"Inyo," She said, "It's fine, we can find another spot."

"No it's not fine." He returned, "If you want this spot then I'm willing to fight for it. You with me Tonto?"

"You know I always follow you Kemosabe." He returned.

I could see Mallory was utterly speechless. At this point however, I couldn't help but shrug and chuckle. If Inyo's going to get himself into something like this, then he may as well not go alone.

"Come me in too." I said, "Ranger?"

"Let's do this!" He said.

Alice's interest was now easily showing with a grin on her face.

"Alright," She said, "As team leader I accept your challenge. We'll play this one at a time."

"Then I'll challenge you." I called, which made her grimace in slight irritation.

If I was going to get to the bottom of why Alice interested me so, I may as well do it on her turf.

"Fine," She agreed, "Inyo will take on Hector first, and then Mallory will fight Karlos. Agreed?"

As we all nodded our heads, a voice calling "THEN IT'S AGREED!" called out from nowhere. Immediately afterwards, a mustached man in a white t-shirt, black pants, and a red bowtie dashed from around the corner and screeched to a halt. We all knew this guy well, Mr. Referee. I honestly don't know how in the world he can be everywhere at once and watch every robattle, but I won't complain about his sound judgment.

"I officially declare this a Robattle Marathon. The rules are simple, the team with a win/loss ratio of 2-to-3 or higher wins the match. And to win you must stop the other medabot from functioning. The first match will be Inyo and Tonto versus Hector and Piraskull. Are both sides in agreement?"

Inyo and Tonto stepped into the area, as did Hector and Piraskull.

"We're ready." Inyo called.

"As are we Laddie," Hector returned with a smirk, "Time to shiver your timbers!"

"ALRIGHT!" Mr. Referee called, "MEDABOTS… ROBATTLE!"

"TIME TO SET SAIL PIRASKULL!" Hector called, "SHOW THOSE LANDLUBBERS JUST WHAT WE SEADOGS DO!"

"AYE CAPTAIN!"

Piraskull hobbled into the battle as the rest of us backed off to give them room.

"Alright Tonto," Inyo said, "We got this! Go in with solo attack maneuver alpha!"

"Understood!"

Tonto dashed in with his left arm crossed over his chest. In the second it took, he then disappeared in a puff of air.

"Eh?!" Piraskull stammered as he stalled to a halt, "Where'd the Landlubber disappear to?"

"Watch yourself," Hector called, "Tis the Assassin Maneuver!"

The pirate captain type looked around carefully. Just as Tonto reappeared behind him, Piraskull waited until the last possible second to counter and clashed blades.

"You'll have to do better than that to outdo a pirate me bucko!" He chuckled as he leaped backwards, "Because you never know what a pirate may have up his sleeve."

"Show 'em your first trick Piraskull!" Hector ordered.

"Aye captain! Hammer Claw!"

He held up his left arm claw as he suddenly let Tonto have it with a good left hook. I dunno exactly how strong the Piraskull model is supposed to be regarding standard, but I can easily see that Tonto's getting a run for his money.

"Tonto," Inyo shouted, "Use your Auxiliary Charge and evade!"

Tonto did as told as the ring on the back of his head started glowing. Immediately his land speed almost doubled and was now almost untouchable. This may just be the edge my brother needs to get the better of Piraskull. Seeing his opponent confused and stuck to one place, Inyo ordered Tonto to close in and circle him. Seeing his personal space closing fast, and seeing nothing but mirages of his target, Piraskull looked to his medafighter for help. Hector looked beat only for a moment before a smirk grew on his face once again.

"Weigh the anchor Piraskull," He shouted, "Whirlpool Blade!"

"AYE CAPTAIN!"

Piraskull balanced on his peg leg and then started spinning like a top, with his right arm outstretched to attack his target. Tonto failed to react in time as Piraskull made a clean cut to his torso and knocked him backwards. I could hear Mallory gasp in both shock and fear as we all saw the gaping slice that not occupied his chest.

"You alright Tonto?" Inyo asked worriedly.

"Just fine Kemosabe." He returned, "I'm not going down that easily!"

'Glad to hear Lad," Hector shouted proudly, "Cuz we ain't finished with ya yet! Piraskull, finish the job and send this poor unfortunate bot to Davy Jones's locker!"

"Aye Cap-tain?!" He started, and almost tripped over himself.

Turns out that during Piraskull's spinning attack, he had drilled his peg leg into the ground about three inches and basically glued it into the soft gravel.

"CAPTAIN!" He shouted, "I BE STUCK!"

"WELL DON'T SAY IT OUT LOUD YOU IDIOT!"

I could see the grin on Inyo's face growing. This is your chance Inyo, you better take it.

"Now's our chance Tonto!" He shouted, "Auxiliary Charge and then Laser Beam!"

Tonto disappeared again as his speed increased and once again surrounded Piraskull with several mirages of himself. As his target became confused, Tonto reappeared about fifteen feet in front of Piraskull and charged his right arm laser. By the time Piraskull was able to finally see where the true Tonto was, it was too late as the laser struck him dead in the head. The force was enough to uproot him from the ground as he was launched back about eight feet and landed on his back with a thud.

"H-He...He…" Hector whimpered in utter disbelief, "He shivered OUR timbers…"

"PIRASKULL FUNCTION CEASED!" Mr. Referee shouted, as he raised his right hand, "AND THE WINNERS ARE INYO AND TONTO!"

"Seas of Poseidon…" Hector sighed as he fell to his knees, "This defeat brings shame to me name as a pirate…"

Inyo and Mallory shared squeals of excitement as they hugged in celebration, and then high-fived me.

I looked over at Alice as I noticed a slight glimmer of surprise at her partner's loss.

"Not bad," She said, "Karlos, you're up."

"With pleasure."

He and his blade type bot stepped forward.

"THE NEXT MATCH WILL BE MALLORY AND SHIN SABER VERSUS KARLOS AND CUTTER!" Mr. Referee shouted, "MEDAFIGHTERS READY?"

Inyo and I watched Mallory and Shin Saber step into the area and prepare for the fight. I must say though, I highly doubt Shin Saber should have any trouble with a katana like he's holding, but when faced against a blade type medabot, I'm left to only wonder how this fight will end. Mallory nodded to show she was ready, and I could see Karlos cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

"Alright Shin Saber," Mallory said, "Let's do our best and show him what we're made of!"

"You can count on me Mallory." Shin Saber returned as he clutched his katana with both hands.

"I'm gonna make you sorry you even dared to challenge the BLADE!" Karlos smirked, "CUTTER, SCRAP THIS PIECE OF TRASH!"

"ALRIGHT," Mr. Referee, shouted, "ROUND TWO OF THREE! MEDABOTS, ROBATTLE!"

Cutter, apparently being the reckless and impulsive one, charged at Shin Saber and made the first swing. Shin Saber leaped over him and made a dash for his vulnerable backside. Shin Saber's attack landed, but Cutter simply laughed it off. To our surprise, Shin Saber's blade didn't even make a scratch.

"You call that a sword slash?!" Cutter bellowed, "Lemme show you a REAL sword slash!"

"MURDER 'EM CUTTER!" Karlos shouted.

"Shin Saber," Mallory called, "Resort to distance combat, you can't let him get close."

"I'll do my best." He returned as he sidestepped an incoming swipe and tried to maintain a distance of no less than ten feet between him and his opponent.

"What's the matter?" Karlos grinned, "You too chicken to fight Cutter? You afraid you'll lose? You're nothing but a helpless wimp with a sorry excuse for a medabot!"

"Hey stop with the name calling!" Inyo shouted.

"SHUT IT PAL! I CAN SAY WHATEVER I WANT!"

He then turned to Cutter, "FINISH OFF THAT SCRAP PILE CUTTER! RIP 'EM TO PIECES!"

Cutter charged again, but was eventually able to pin Shin Saber into a corner and then come down with another slash. Shin Saber slid under him and then attempted another slash to his backside. Cutter however saw it coming and threw his right arm into a wide slash around his backside. We all gasped in shock as Shin Saber's katana shattered into pieces upon impact with Cutter's arm. Far from finished, Cutter used his momentum to throw his left arm into an uppercut. The blade whacked Shin Saber head on and threw him easily about twenty feet backward and almost eight feet up. When Shin Saber touched down with a crash, we all knew there was no way possible he survived that attack. And Mr. Referee verified our fear.

"SHIN SABER FUNCTION CEASED!" He shouted as he raised his left hand, "AND THE WINNERS ARE KARLOS AND CUTTER!"

Mallory dashed to Shin Saber's body and put the medal in her watch. Thankfully he was still ok, but she immediately started crying. Inyo was the first to her side as Mallory buried herself in his chest while Inyo watched Karlos and Cutter dance in arrogant and prideful victory with a scowl in his face. I knew that face well. That was the face he made when someone hurt one of his friends, and I have a feeling that Inyo plans to return the favor on behalf of Mallory at some point.

I then looked down to Ranger, who was looking back up to me. We both nodded as we knew one thing was clear, it was going to be up to us to fight for the team.

"So it seems that we'd be the tiebreaker." Alice called as Natsu walked forward and waited for her opponent.

"So it would seem." I said back as ranger met his opponent.

Something however was still on my mind, and I felt bold enough to stake it on this robattle.

"I want to add something to his wager." I said, "If we win… No, if I win, you tell me why you act the way you do."

I could easily tell the Alice was both surprised and slightly flustered by my wager, but with the others here there was no way she could refuse.

"And if I win?" She asked.

"Then I'll tell you why I act the way I do."

See the others look back at her, she growled that I put her on the spot and then agreed.

"THE FINAL MATCH OF THE ROBATTLE MARATHON IS RENO AND RANGER VERSUS ALICE AND NATSU! THE WINNERS WILL BE DECIDED BY THIS TIEBREAKER MATCH!" Mr. Referee called, "MEDAFIGHTERS READY?"

"Ready when you are." Alice challenged.

I looked back to Inyo and Mallory, and then to both of Alice's teammates before looking her square in the eye. I felt my eyebrows knit themselves together.

"Let's do this!" I shouted.

"ALRIGHT!" Mr. Referee shouted, "ROUND 3 OF 3, TIEBREAKER MATCH! MEDABOTS, ROBATTLE!"

"Alright Ranger," I called, "Go in with solo attack maneuver beta-four!"

"HEIGH HO!" He shouted as he used his Auxiliary Charge, with the ring attached to the back of his head glowing to show that it was working, and then dashed into battle.

"Natsu," Alice called, "Feign a left cross and go in with a Shield Breaker!"

"I will do as ordered." She returned as she dashed into battle.

I did my best to keep most of my focus on Ranger and his surroundings and some of my focus on Natsu, but it was awfully hard with an opponent that almost literally dances on thin air she was so nimble. Ranger refused to let that get to him as he decided to improvise; which was his best trait, and the reason we won so many battles on our own. Ranger punched the ground with his left arm and unleashed a pulse that started shaking the ground in uneven intervals. It took a few pulses, but Natsu was beginning to trip over herself and then recover. As Ranger finished and readied another attack stance, Natsu made her move and dashed for him. I was barely able to yell "defend!" in time as her arm-mounted katana and not only shattered his defensive stance in one strike with an incredible forward stab of her left arm, but also pushed him back about seven feet.

"Finish with the Siege Sword maneuver!" Alice shouted.

"I don't think so," I challenged, "Ranger, hold her back!"

Ranger barely clashed blades in time to keep her left arm held at bay. Naturally, Natsu attempted to impale him with her right arm, though Ranger had directed enough strength to hold both arms back and force both him and her into a standstill.

"You… Fight well." I heard Ranger say, straining all the while.

"As… Ungh… Do you." Natsu returned, "But… I am… Far from finished!"

Their grips had hardened as their determinations to win engulfed them like fire. After about ten seconds of the extra strain, three blades could be seen spinning through the air as the two combatants had forced themselves a distance between the two of them. Alice and I, as well as everyone else, gasped in complete shock to find that due to the incredible force they pushed into holding each other back, they had shattered their blades and rendered them useless. This is impossible! How can something as hard as Meda-alloy shatter like that? It's supposed to be near unbreakable under pressures like that.

"We can fight without blades," Alice called, "Natsu, close in the distance and resort to hand combat!"

Natsu dashed towards Ranger as I gave him the order to do the same. Luckily Ranger still had one arm capable of a powerful attack, but we'll have to time it right if we're to land a hit. Both combatants had continued exchanging and dealing punches and kicks to in hopes to overwhelm the other. The others could see the fight getting even more intense as they watched in utter awe. After a while both Ranger and Natsu had done more than enough damage to push the other into cease function, but something inside both of them had completely ignored that option. I could tell Alice was thinking the same thing as we watched our bots fight viciously, though at the same time, we were so entranced by their fiery determination to defeat the other. Eventually they had dealt simultaneous blows to each other's heads as they shakily back up about three feet each. Both bots were over the edge, and my medawatch proved it as all parts were over ninety percent damage. I had a feeling that Natsu was basically at the same point. Both bots just stood there and stare each other down, struggling to stand all the while.

"Nnngh…" Ranger strained, "I'll admit… heh heh… This was a fun robattle."

"I… Only concede to… those deemed worthy…" Natsu returned, "You have proven yourself… but only this time… Next time… Nnnngh… I will be the victor of our duel."

"Well that makes… two of us."

Immediately afterwards, both bots hit the ground at the exact same moment with a unified clang as their medals ejected. I couldn't believe it… Ranger… And Natsu… had tied …

"RANGER AND NATSU BOTH FUNCTION CEASED!" Mr. Referee shouted, "DUE TO THIS, THE MARATHON ROBATTLE HAS ENDED IN A DRAW!"

With that said, he excused himself as we all were left in silence. Alice was the first to speak as a small grin grew on her face. She looked back up at me before speaking.

"You wanna know something about me huh?" She asked. "Well I'll tell you this. Those that are able to at the minimum match Natsu, let alone beat her, earn my respect."

She then made her way over to pick up Natsu's medal and transport her body and broken swords.

"But just because we tied doesn't mean that I'll just start being nice." She continued, "It takes more than that to humble me."

"Then until next time." I grinned.

She gave me a nod and slight smirk as she led her teammates back to the campus. Taking a sigh of relief, Inyo and Mallory met me as tears ran down Mallory's face.

"You two did that…" She quivered, "Just to fight for me. Even with me losing you refused to leave my side… I… I…" She buried her face in Inyo's chest again and started bawling. Tonto had reinserted Ranger's medal into his body and his twin up and served as a crutch, with his broken blade in his other hand.

"Nice job bro." Inyo grinned, "I couldn't be prouder."

I returned the comment with a grin. Looking at my medawatch however showed that we better get a move on to our medabots class or we may find ourselves tardy.

* * *

**In today's Marathon Robattle:**

**Inyo/Tonto vs. Hector/Piraskull- Inyo and Tonto triumph over Hector and Piraskull**

**Mallory/Shin Saber vs. Karlos/Cutter- Karlos and Cutter beat Mallory and Shin Saber**

**Reno/Ranger vs. Alice/Natsu- Both combatants fell simultaneously, resulting in a draw**

**Final Score: 1-1 Draw**

**What'll happen next time? You'll have to come back and read on to find out.**

**And one last thing, rate and review please.**

**MORE MEDABOTS! MORE POWER!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Steam here with another update. :D This time I decided to take another bot's perspective for this chapter, hope you enjoy.**

**Credit to Natsume for Medabots, AproposFool89 for Alice Silverwind and Beta Reading, and me for everyone else.**

***Aimflash*- And we appreciate reviews, so leave one will ya?**

**Hey, how'd you get here?**

***Aimflash*- I went through the door, duh.**

**I'll have to fix that. Anyway, hope you enjoy, and rate and review please.**

**This chapter is from Sherlock's POV**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

I am regretful to say that I wish our team's training session went better than it actually did. It started fine when Miss Natalie and I met up with Masters Marcus and Aimflash, that is until Master Trigger and his two brutes of medabots met us to begin training. We weren't even five minutes into our training before Wild Harry and Gun Desperado started pushing me out of the session; rather forcefully might I add. Aimflash intercepted them after a while, though it eventually turned into a rather nasty brawl between the three 'teammates' and the two medafighters. Natalie was able to separate them after a while, just as I have with the Guns and Aimflash. We all were pretty roughed up, but we eventually headed for our evening medabots class in utter silence. We arrived to the door of our classroom to find a note stuck to it.

"Hey," Master Marcus said, "What's that?"

Miss Natalie lifted the note slightly to read it.

"Had to attend an unplanned and important conference on the other side of town," She read, "Class is cancelled tonight, will make up for it tomorrow with a longer lesson. Keep training. Signed, Professor Winthrop."

"So class is cancelled?" Aimflash clarified.

"Aye lad," Someone called, "It be the truth, and we be here before ya."

We turned around to find Masters Hector and Piraskull, though it looks like the latter had seen better days. The poor bot looked like he had been shot in the head with a rather forceful blast.

"Good gosh…" Master Marcus gasped as he looked at Piraskull, "What happened to him?"

"Ahh, the Lad Inyo be what happened." Master Hector sighed, "It be a long story ya see."

"Well then keep it to yourself," Trigger grunted, "Because I don't have time for this."

He and his two brutes left in silence.

"Well, WE'D like to hear it." Miss Natalie urged.

"It seems we have ourselves an audience Captain." Piraskull said.

"So it would seem me boy." Hector sighed as he began the explanation, "So it started as a simple trainin' session with the team earlier this afternoon. We had found a discreet spot to use for trainin', and then Mallory's team is found spyin' on us, though the Lass claimed that she thought that the spot was still vacant. Our other teammate Karlos told 'er off, rather rudely however, and then Inyo be the one to challenge us to a marathon robattle in her stead. Cap'n Alice agreed as I be the one to robattle Inyo, Karlos be takin' on Mallory, and then Reno faced Alice. It was a tough robattle it was, but alas the boy got the better of us when we least expected it."

Piraskull rubbed the blast in his head-hat with his left hand claw and moaned.

"The boy had beaten us fair an' square," Hector continued, "And then it be Mallory versus Karlos. And might I say that be the shortest fight in the history of robattlin', Shin Saber lasted not even five minutes against Cutter's raw power. So at this point the score be tied one-to-one, and the last two to battle were Reno and Cap'n Alice. It be a tough fight it was, eventually getting' to the point of resortin' to hand combat since their blades be shattered and unusable. They battled like it be their last robattle, and dueled to a standoff. Both struggled to stand, but then fell in defeat at the same moment, resultin' in our match endin' in a draw."

"Dang…" Master Marcus sighed, "I wish I was there to see it. Sounds like it was epic-ness all-round."

"It certainly was Lad," Hector returned, "But that robattle certainly made it clear why Alice be the Cap'n of our team."

I must admit, I am relieved to hear that we weren't the only team to be having problems.

"Well I hate to tell tales an' run," He finished, "But as ya see I have a poor crewmate that needs fixin'."

"Alright, take care." Aimflash waved as they set off.

Figuring that there was not much use to stay around since our class was cancelled, we agreed to meet up tomorrow around the same time for training and hopefully have a better result. We bid each other farewell and then headed back to our separate dorms. Along the way however, we found both Miss Mallory and Master Inyo in the empty hallway. Miss Natalie dove around the corner and pulled me with her.

"Miss Natalie, "I asked, "What are we doing exactly?"

"Listening Sherlock," She replied, "Now shush. I wanna see this."

We opened our ears and hearing circuits to hear what they were saying. They were the only ones in the corridor, so it wasn't all that difficult.

"Thanks again for sticking up for me earlier today." We heard Mallory say, "I can't tell you how much that means to me."

"Well we ARE teammates after all," Inyo returned with a grin, "And teammates stick up for each other."

"Yeah, that's true. But I mean more so than that."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean when Karlos was saying all those things earlier during our robattle, you stood for me and tried to stop him. I… I'm honestly at a loss for words for how I feel."

"Well then don't say anything." Inyo smiled.

"You really are too sweet Inyo…"

"And you're too amazing to be talked to like that."

Both looked each other square in the eye before clasping one another in each other's arms. This truly was a tender moment, I can see now why Miss Natalie wanted to stay out of sight, and the grin on her face show that she felt the same about them. She nudged me and pointed back the other way. I quickly understood as we crept back around the corridor and down a separate flight of stairs, just to let those two have their moment. Ultimately it was the long way around to the Pigeon Blood dorms, but I undoubtedly believe with every circuit of my being that it was worth it. We eventually made it back to our dorm, room forty-two, and entered to find Alice working on Natsu's body in silence.

"Hey," Miss Natalie greeted, "You hear that class was cancelled tonight?"

"Why do you think I'm here and not there?" She answered, not looking up or breaking her focus.

Both Miss Natalie and I shrugged as she went into our room to change, and then let me enter afterwards. Miss Mallory made it back to the room approximately ten minutes later at 6:15. She was quiet, but she had a sense of incredible ecstasy about her. She quietly knocked on our door about three minutes later.

"Come in." Miss Natalie answered.

"Hey," Miss Mallory smiled, "Can you talk?"

"Of course, come on in."

I took that as my cue to leave. Honestly I was intrigued and interested in hearing what Miss Mallory wanted to talk about, but I ultimately knew it was none of my business unless she chose to make it so. I exited the room and closed the door behind me as I started for the main living area to take a seat on the sofa. Alice took notice of my presence, though said nothing as she continued to repair Natsu. About an hour passed as Alice had competed the repairs on Natsu and reactivated her, though Misses Natalie and Mallory were still closed up in our room talking. Alice then departed for her room, leaving myself and Natsu alone in the main living area.

"Good to see you functioning once again." I greeted.

She gave me a look.

"I heard about your robattle with Masters Reno and Ranger."

"And how I lost to them?"

"Quite the contrary," I corrected, "I heard that you and Ranger had tied in a duel of strength and wits."

"So what?"

"So it would take an incredible amount of skill to tie in a robattle, more skill than to win or lose in my honest opinion."

"It doesn't matter."

"Why not?"

"Because I still fell in battle. And to Alice it's either I win or I'm never forgiven."

I was now trumped with confusion. Did she say forgiven? What on earth did she do that would require her to be forgiven?

"Forgiven?" I repeated.

She clenched a fist.

"Forget it," She said, "Just leave me alone."

Hmm… There seems to be more and more of a mystery to this medabot and her medafighter than meets the eye. But I do need to respect their space.

"Alright then." I nodded, "But should you ever need to talk, just know that I'm here and you can trust me."

"Doubt it."

I left the living area in silence and then decided to sit next to the door to Miss Natalie's room and initiate sleep mode for a little while. I was aroused about two hours later by Natsu.

"Walk with me." She said simply.

I got up from my spot on the floor and stood up. I still saw that Misses Natalie and Mallory were talking still, though I knew not what, and then I looked to the window. The sun had gone down and the sky was black, with the lights of the moon and stars being the only light outside from the streetlights. Natsu had me follow her to the roof of the building in silence. It was quiet, but still lighted by the moon and a couple floodlights posted on the corners of the building.

"You once said I can trust you." She began, "Can I?"

"Why of course." I responded as we sat down on a concrete slab, "Why would you bring that into question?"

"Because I don't want what I'm about to say go any farther than you." She returned, "If I hear that it did, I will personally crush your medal in my hands."

I gulped slightly, "Well rest assured, nothing will come out of me."

"Good."

She then sighed.

"You still want to know why I said forgiven?"

"Only if you feel for sharing it."

She sighed again.

"It's because… I hurt her…"

"Hurt her?" I repeated, "How-"

"Her scar…" She interrupted, "I was the one that caused it."

How can this be? Surely it must be some mistake. The look in her optics however says otherwise.

"You?" I asked, "Gave her that scar?"

"That's correct." She nodded, as her left hand fingers ran along her right arm blade, "It was about two years ago. We were robattling someone and his medabot. It was a close match, and after a while it seemed like I had the upper hand when I delivered a swift uppercut to him. He landed on his back and remained motionless. As I neared him to make sure he was down and nonfunctional, he caught me off guard and returned my uppercut with a powerful kick to my chest. I was sent flailing backwards, and at Alice. She managed to barely get out of the way, but due to my flailing my blade cut along her left eye with my blade before she could make it out of harm's way completely. She screamed in pain as she covered her eye, and as I was struck frozen in fear of what I just did, as well as seeing her blood drip down my blade, my opponent had added a punch to my side and launched me into a tree. Ultimately he and his medafighter won that robattle by default since Alice was unable to give orders, and she was taken to the E.R. afterwards by a passerby that saw what happened. I was repaired by that person as the doctor was able to clean Alice's wound and fix it. He told her that her eye was fine, but the scar would never go away. She went to school a couple days later, and she was ridiculed and mocked because of her scar, calling her things like abusive and cruel and ugly; and they placed all the blame on me, saying that I did what happened on purpose since I hated Alice."

I'm… I'm honestly at a loss for words. My word…

"…Oh, my…" I managed to say, "You poor thing."

"Sure Alice is strict, but I couldn't ever hate her. In fact I wouldn't even dream of harming her… But then it actually happened…"

"It was only an accident Natsu, and accidents happen."

"But do accidents leave permanent scars?" She returned sharply, "I was blamed for something I had no control over. I was attacked and forced in the direction of my medafighter against my will, and I ended up harming her because of it! Now Alice barely even speaks to me besides whatever order she gives me, be it in a robattle or outside of one. I obey her without question, even if her order is dangerous or harmful to me, in hopes that she can one day forgive me of what I did."

"But didn't you get chances in the past to apologize for what you've done? Surely there should have been more than one opportunity."

"She doesn't say anything, and she hasn't since that day. I know that I'm her medabot, and that I won't ever be replaced or abandoned, but sometimes I think of those alternatives and wonder if they're any better than never being forgiven."

"Oh come now." I said, "You mustn't think like that. Yes things may seem bleak at times, but you must persevere and show her that you care and you're sorry for what you did. It was an accident my dear Natsu, and I can easily see that you truly had no intentions of injuring Miss Alice on purpose."

"At least you see it that way." She returned, "How can I make up for a mistake that I had no control over? I've tried in the past to tell her I'm sorry, but she doesn't say anything back."

"My assumption would be that she's still trying to process the change in her life. Obtaining a scar, either physical or otherwise, can sometimes be a difficult thing to understand and accept."

"After nearly two years?"

"Some people accept change faster than others, and I deduce that, based on what was said, Miss Alice has not only received a physical scar… but also an emotional one, and those are the hardest ones to overcome."

Natsu remained silent in thought before speaking.

"Thank you for trying to make me feel better." She said, "But I'm afraid that things between me and Alice may never return to what they once were."

"Just try and remain positive." I answered, "Over time I'm sure she'll eventually see your remorse."

"So I'll dream about. But until then, just stay out of my way and leave me alone."

I was silent a moment before speaking.

"I shall do my best."

Natsu got up and then started back for the dorm, with me following a few feet behind her. My word, this medabot had been through a lot of hard times, the poor girl. I wish there was something I could do to help, but I'm sworn to secrecy, in more ways than one I might add. Though even then I long for something to do in hopes to help repair the tragic relationship between Miss Alice and Natsu. Unfortunately I would likely do nothing more than get in the way if I tried to do something, so I'm afraid I'm restricted to standing back and hoping for the best. As we neared the door to our dorm, Natsu turned to me again.

"Thank you for letting me vent." She said, "I feel a little better to have gotten that weight off my chest."

"The pleasure was all mine." I returned cheerfully, "And keep your chin up, things will be better one day."

"I can only hope."

We then entered our room to find that it was the same as it was when we left. Natsu proceeded for Alice's room as I headed for Miss Natalie's room. Just as I neared the door, Miss Mallory had opened the door and departed for her own room.

"Sorry that took so long Sherlock." Miss Natalie sighed, "Mal had a lot of stuff to get off her chest she wanted me to be there for her."

"Say no more." I replied, "I understand completely."

"So what'd you do the whole time?"

Allow me to recall… nothing really besides learning more about Alice and Natsu, but I cannot say anything on that issue unless she says it's fine to.

"Oh nothing much," I said, "Just watched Alice repair Natsu and dozed off for a couple hours."

"Alright, cool. Well I'm gonna call it a night, so I'll see you in the morning Sherlock."

"Sleep well Miss Natalie."

The room went silent and dark as I sat down in a corner and got comfortable. I honestly truly wish there was something I could do for Natsu to help her and Alice restore their fragmented bond, but since I'm unable to do anything, all I can really do is hope that one day things WILL get better between the two of them. With this being the last thought in my processors, I went into sleep mode once again.

The next morning I was awakened to hear Miss Natalie reenter the room after a trip to the washroom to shower and get ready for today.

"Morning Sherlock." She chirped.

"Good morning Miss Natalie," I returned, "Sleep well?"

I sensed a slight hesitation in her voice.

"Eh… Could have slept better I guess."

"Sorry to hear, perhaps it was about what you and Miss Mallory were talking about?"

"That's exactly it actually. How'd you guess?"

"I AM a detective type after all."

She chuckled, "And you certainly are one Mr. Holmes."

"So? Would you care to talk about it?"

"There really wasn't a whole lot to talk about actually. It was just more getting her to calm down and stop crying."

"Crying?"

"Tears of joy Sherlock. Mal explained everything that happened yesterday from her perspective, as well as Inyo being the first to stand for and defend her. She said that she never had anyone do that for her in the past, and that Inyo did it for her so willingly."

"Understandable. How did she feel about it?"

"She told me that she thinks that she's beginning to really like Inyo, but didn't know exactly how to say it."

"Sounds like the common dilemma that plagues every person her age."

She gave me a look.

"And by that you're referring that I'm going through it too, right? Since we're BOTH eighteen?"

"Why not? Master Marcus clearly takes an interest in you."

I saw Miss Natalie turn a little red at my rebuttal and look away.

"Well either way," She continued, redirecting the topic, "I told Mal that if she really does like Inyo like she believes, then she should tell 'em."

"It would indeed be the option to pursue, though I will say from the male perspective that it would be easier said than done for one to admit their feelings."

"Well I think that if Inyo really likes Mal like we saw last night, I have a feeling he'll try and say how he feels."

"Sounds like a good explanation, shall we stick with that one?"

"Yes we shall," She said as she sat down on her bed and began tying her hair into a ponytail, "So what's on my schedule for today?"

"You have a Math class at 10:00 and an English class at 1:00."

"Have you talked to Aimflash yet regarding whether to try and meet for individual training while we're in class?"

"I'm… sorry?"

I honestly had forgotten about the individual training sessions we planned to do.

"Contacting Aimflash through your internal server." Miss Natalie replied, "You exchanged server information with him after the first night of class."

"Ah, yes. I remember now. I actually haven't tried to contact him yet. I shall do so as you leave and then meet where we agreed upon."

"Sounds like a plan." She nodded as she picked up her book bag and headed for the door to leave and get to class.

Now let's see… I pulled up Master Aimflash's server address from my memory banks and attempted to make contact with him. He answered a little bit later.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Good morning Master Aimflash." I returned.

"Sherlock? How're you contacting me?"

"It's elementary my dear Aimflash, I saved your mainframe's server address to my memory banks, so I was able to contact you wirelessly."

"Oh yeah… I forgot we could do that. Anyway, what's up?"

"I was wondering where it would be possible to meet and perhaps train while we wait on Master Marcus and Miss Natalie."

"Umm… How about nearby the track around the campus football field?"

"Sounds like a splendid plan to me. How soon can you be there?"

"I can basically leave any time since I have nothing to do while Chief's in class, you wanna meet in ten minutes or so?"

"I'd agree to that. See you then."

"Laters."

He hung up as I headed for the door.

"Going somewhere?" I heard someone call.

I looked back to see Shin Saber leaning on the wall with his arms crossed. Looks like the fellow's been repaired.

"Oh, good morning Master Shin Saber." I greeted, "I was just on my way to meet with Master Aimflash and train. And might I say you're looking much better today."

"Well I got fixed after Mallory came back to our room." He returned.

"Makes sense. Well I must be on my way, so I'll see you later."

"Careful now Detective."

I opened the door as Master Shin Saber closed it behind me. With that I headed down the stairs and outside to head for the rear of the campus. Some five minutes later I found Master Aimflash skate up to me and coast to a halt.

"Hey pal," He greeted cheerfully, "You ready to train?"

"Ready when you are." I returned, "Did you contact either of the Guns?"

"Nope, and in all honesty I really don't want to if they're gonna push you around and keep you outta the fight."

"Well I'm honored, so what shall we practice first?"

"I would suggest something to get on the Gun's radars; something that'll prove how useful you are."

"Such as? I have no attack parts equipped as of current."

"Alright, then we'll work on speed. If you can move quickly and evade incoming fire, that oughta give you an edge."

"Sounds like a smashing idea."

"Awesome. Now let's see… Why not use the running track? It seems empty at the moment."

"Why not?"

We then walked towards the track to find several medabots there already, though there was still plenty of room to run and move around.

"Alright Sherlock, here's the plan." Master Aimflash started as we set foot on the track, "We'll start slow and work our way up to speed. All ya gotta do is keep up with me."

"Understood," I nodded, "Ready when you are."

"Alrighty then."

Master Aimflash started slow with one periodic push on his skates and let himself coast as he watched me carefully. Eventually he decreased the time between skates and started simply running on their power. We increasingly got faster, and my inward timer clocked up at approximately fifteen seconds and we already were well down from where we started. We approached the first turn as Master Aimflash changed his lane to the most inward one. I clocked us again around thirty-five seconds and I was doing a pretty good job keeping up with Master Aimflash.

"Alright pal," He said, "Now we're really gonna start the training; that was just a warm-up."

I beg your pardon? Did I hear you correctly?

"See ya!" He called as he increased speed.

"W-what?!" I stammered, "H-hey, wait!"

I tried to increase my speed and at least gain ground, but by the time we both passed the point where we started, I hadn't closed anything.

"Master… Aimflash…" I huffed, "Slow down… a tad… will you… please?"

"Sorry Sherlock," He called back, "But if ya wanna show those dopey Guns that you're invaluable you'll have to do better than that. We're not stopping until you can at the minimum keep up with me on a straight track."

"But…"

"No buts! Now come on, work those circuits!"

Thankfully he wasn't increasing his speed, so at least I had a goal to reach. It took a great deal of effort, but I was able to incrementally close the distance of about ten feet by approximately an inch every thirty seconds or so. After I finally made it even with him, we made one final lap to see how long I could hold the position.

"Not bad," He nodded, "Not bad at all."

We passed the start point and slowed to a stop. My word I don't think I've ever run that fast before… But I DO feel a little more capable after that ordeal.

"Good start," Master Aimflash said, "So we know that you can push yourself when it comes to your land speed. Now we can go right into evading… heh heh…"

I don't think I like the sound of that… He shot a meda-bullet right between my feet as I leaped back in surprise.

"Have you gone mad!?" I called.

"Quite the opposite," He returned, "Now you better keep moving if you don't wanna get shot."

He made another shot at me, though I sidestepped to the left and broke into a run as his left arm continued to hound me with a steady trail of meda-bullets behind me. He ceased fire and then opened it once again, though in front of me. I screeched to a halt before breaking into a jog in the opposite direction.

"Yo Sherlock!" Master Aimflash called, "Stop lookin' at where to run to and start lookin' at your opponent! How're you supposed to be making a plan otherwise?"

Fair point. I had better watch carefully and see if there's a way to get close enough to him. Looking through my magnifying lens, I could read that he had a sore spot smack on his elbow joint. Maybe if I can get in close enough, I could try and use that to my advantage. He continued to fire at me, switching sides occasionally. I broke into a sprint and skipped left and right to avoid the incoming fire as I neared him. Alright Sherlock, now's the chance to show the fellow just what you can do.

"Hey!" He said, "What're you doing!?"

"Why it's elementary my dear Aimflash," I returned as I finally closed the distance and blew a puff of smoke from my pipe into his face to temporarily blind him, "Strategy is the key to winning, is it not?"

I then struck the elbow joint on his left arm and shut off his gatling gun. Master Aimflash wiped the smoke away and checked his arm to find that I have indeed disabled it.

"Huh," He remarked, "Not bad Sherlock. You got some good strategy to ya."

"Why thank you my dear Master Aimflash." I laughed as I took a bow.

We continued to train until Master Marcus and Miss Natalie came looking for us and said that we needed to find Master Trigger. Honestly I've come to have a rather large dislike for those two imbeciles of medabots he has, but they are OUR teammates; so I may as well get used to it and make the best of the situation.

* * *

**So there IS more to Alice and Natsu than meets the eye… And it seems that Inyo and Mallory have grown closer. Is there really a tender relationship here? Will something take place in the future to sway their feelings? And what exactly is up with Alice and Natsu? What'll take place next? You'll have to come back and read to find out.**

**Rate and review please.**

**MORE MEDABOTS! MORE POWER!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys, Steam here with a new update. Hope you enjoy.**

**Credit to Natsume for Medabots, AproposFool89 for Alice Silverwind and Beta Reading, and me for everyone else.**

**I appreciate reviews, so please leave one will ya?**

**This chapter is from Mallory's POV**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

My class ended early today since the teacher had to prepare for a conference later this evening. I'll say that it feels pretty nice to be out of class early, but now I don't really have anything to do since the rest of my team is still in class. And I left Shin Saber back in our dorms. Oh well, may as well make the best of the situation. I decided to take a walk through the hallway and just take some time to process my thoughts. Eventually my thoughts drifted to last night and what I talked about with Natalie. It honestly felt really good to let my feelings out to a friend, but now I'm left to wonder just exactly how to go about it. I mean… Inyo's a really sweet guy, he's kind, and funny… And he really seems to care for me. But what if he does that for every girl? What if I'm really nothing special? No, I don't wanna think like that. If Inyo really truly likes me, then I may as well tell him how I feel and see if he feels the same. The question is, where and when? He's still in class, and after both he and his brother are out we need to meet up for training; so ultimately I won't get any time alone to tell him. Ahh… Such is the life of a College girl. I was silent as I roamed through the hallway and processed my thoughts, then out of nowhere someone bumped into me as we both fell over.

"Guh…" He moaned, "Better watch where I'm going…"

We both looked up and my heart almost literally stopped beating I was in so much shock. I had just bumped into Inyo! I honestly don't know if I want to be happy that I did, or embarrassed out of existence. Come on Mal, be strong.

"Inyo," I said, "Hi."

"Mallory?" He returned, and then started turning red, "I'm sorry, I should've looked where I was going."

"N-no, don't be. I was kinda in my own thoughts too."

We picked up our stuff as Inyo lent me a hand back to my feet. Silence took place between us. Is this a miracle? Was this one of those times where you think of someone and they appear from nowhere? I honestly don't know, but if it is a chance, I hope he'll see it as one.

"So Mal," He started, "Where're ya headed?"

"Oh, nowhere." I returned, "Got out of class early and wanted to clear my head is all."

"Really. Heh, funny thing… That's exactly MY situation right now."

I heart skipped a beat when he said that. By chance we're BOTH out early? And ran into each other in such a huge building? This has to be a miracle, it just has to be.

"You… You wanna hang out?" Inyo asked, "Reno's still in his class and won't be out for at least another hour and a half, and I've nothing to do. So…"

I think I may as well faint. This situation is becoming more and more like a dream come true.

"But," He stopped, "If you're doing anything then I don't wanna intrude."

"Oh no, not at all." I replied, "In truth I'm not doing anything either, so I'd love to hang out with you."

"R-really?" He stammered, turning red again, "That's great. S-so… Any place in particular you wanna go?"

Oh… my… gosh… He's asking me on a date! I'm about ready to squeal with happiness, but I better keep a lid on it if I don't wanna look like a nutcase.

"Well…" I started, "There was a place outside of the campus I wanted to go check out."

"Alright, what's the place?"

"You heard of Mamma-Mia's Pizzeria?"

His face suddenly cringed in confusion.

"Oh yeah," He said at least, "I remember that place. Haven't OFFICIALLY eaten there though."

"Well then why don't we go there?"

"I don't see a reason why we can't."

He held his arm out as I linked it with mine as we started off for the pizzeria. I could feel the excitement well up inside me as we exited the building and headed down the street. I was going on a date with the guy I think I really like! I was interrupted from my happy thoughts by a person walking down the street and coming our way.

"Yo Inyo my man!" He called, "What's happenin' my awesome dude?"

"Hey Kyle," Inyo greeted, "Nothin' much besides classes. How about you?"

"Pretty much the same thing man. That and my job at the medaparts shop."

He then glimpsed at me.

"And who's the amazing-looking dudette you have here with ya?"

"Oh, this is Mallory." Inyo said, "She's in a team I'm in for a class we share."

"Epic-ness dude," Kyle grinned, "Rockin' it with the ladies eh?"

"W-well…"

He suddenly started turning red, though I could feel my face heating up too. I'm just glad that my bangs covered the left side of my face to help hide it.

"Haha! Sorry 'bout that dude," He laughed, "Just had to have some fun with ya is all."

We both managed to laugh along with him.

"We'll I'll leave you two alone then," He finished, "I gotta hit a class that's gonna start in a few minutes."

"Alright," Inyo grinned, "Take care Kyle."

"Same to you my man. Catch ya laters."

We parted ways before I looked to Inyo.

"You know him?" I asked.

"You remember when I had to think about the pizza place when you asked about it?"

"Yeah."

"Well Kyle's kinda involved in that whole thing."

"Aren't you going to tell me?"

"Do you wanna hear?"

"Well of course."

I gave him a playful nudge in the ribs with my elbow.

"Alrighty then." He started, "It was the day after Marcus and Aimflash moved into the dorm with me and Reno, maybe the day after that, but it was for a fact before classes started. We and our bots decided to go for a walk around the town and get to know the place we'd be calling home. We came across that pizza place and decided to sit down there for lunch. Right as our server finished getting our order, Aimflash noticed that he was looking awfully suspicious. We all voted to investigate as we sent our bots to the back of the building and find out what they could from the kitchen. Turns out that the place was littered with Rubberobos. We caught 'em red-handed and they gave chase to our medabots. Kyle joined our attempt to stop them and wiped 'em out with an awesome move from his medabot, Sharkann. In the end we caught those Rubberobos and handed 'em off to the police, all thanks to Kyle."

Wow, that was pretty exciting. Now I'm kinda jealous that I wasn't there. Last I recall I was out shopping with Natalie and Alice for groceries when that whole event happened. Oh well…

"Wow." I said, "Sounds like you all had an exciting time."

"For sure." He agreed as we crossed the street, "I just hope that this place is better under its original owners than it was under the Rubberobo's."

I giggled at his comment.

"Well Natalie says that this place is really good," I answered, "So I don't think we have anything to worry about."

"I hope so."

We both laughed as we entered the doors and were seated in a booth seat for two. Both of us ordered drinks and then sipped on them as we waited for our food.

"So…" I began, trying to start a conversation, "How're classes going?"

"Ah pretty good, pretty good." He returned, "At least thus far anyways, it's still the first week after all."

"This is true. Though our medabots class will certainly motivate us to do well."

"No kidding. I was surprised when the Dean himself offered me and my Bro seats in that class."

"Same here, though… just me."

"Don't you have siblings?"

"I'm an only child."

"Oh, sorry to bring it up."

"N-no, don't be." I said, "You were just curious, and you had no way of knowing."

"Well I appreciate the understanding."

"It's the least I can do for all the things you did for me in the last couple days."

"I'm just glad I helped."

I smiled, and then looked away, "Well you certainly did more than that…"

This pricked his curiosity, "What do you mean?"

I looked down and around as I tried to formulate the words. This is my chance to tell him how I feel, I can't let this moment pass me by.

"Well… You see…" I stuttered, "I… Uhm… I uh…."

"Yes?"

Come on Mal, snap out of it! You're looking like a freak.

"I… Uhm…"

It was then that our pizza arrived and gave me a chance to breathe.

"I'll tell you after we eat." I said.

We both took slices of our pepperoni and extra cheese pizza and ate in silence. Mallory Rider! You're better than stuttering; stop worrying and just tell him what you want to say. This is my chance and I don't want to lose it, or lose him to someone else. I guess… that's my biggest fear of telling him… That he'll say that he liked another. I don't want to set myself up for heartache, but at the same time I gotta know how he feels about me. We finished eating in silence as Inyo picked up the tab and paid for our food. I offered to pay him half of what he paid, just to cover my end, but he told me that it was his call, and he did it because he wanted to. I'm… at a serious loss for words. He not only stands up for me, but he's also such a respectful and caring guy. I've made up my mind, I HAVE to tell him. We walked back to the campus, but I said I wanted to go for a walk in the park for a few minutes. Seeing the time, he hesitantly agreed and we passed the College and went straight for the park. We entered and started along the trail in silence. This is my chance, I better jump on it.

"Umm… Inyo?" I began.

"Yeah?" He returned, "What's up?"

Oh gosh… I can already feel my cheeks warm up and my stomach churn. No, I have to go through with it. Come on Mal, you can do it. Be strong.

"What I was trying to say earlier…" I continued, "I… Uhm… I was thinking about how much you've done for me in the last few days…"

"What about it?"

"Well… you see… I felt so… happy… When you did all those things for me. Being there when I was being hurt, having a shoulder for me to cry on…"

"Alright." He nodded, "What're you getting at?"

I could sense a slight hesitation in his voice. Was he nervous? Was he getting flustered like I was?

"I did some thinking, and with the help of a friend I was able to come to a conclusion…"

"What'd… you come up with?"

Oh boy…. This is it. This is the moment of truth. Come on Mal, tell him. Tell him now!

"Inyo Truckee…" I said, now feeling beet red and tensing up, "I… I really like you."

There… I said it. I got my feelings across. He stopped walking and stood there, frozen. The silence was getting to me. Did I embarrass him? Perhaps it was too soon to tell him? What was he thinking? Why wasn't he saying anything? Please Inyo, don't be quiet, talk to me!

"Y…You do?" He stuttered.

I nodded bashfully. That's it, I can't take this anymore. The anticipation is too much, I need to leave. I need air. Just as I started to walk past him, he grabbed my hand and held it to stop me.

"Ya know…" Inyo started, "I uh… I've been doing a lot of thinking too. And in all honesty I felt… satisfied… To have been there for you, to have someone to stand for."

My heart began skipping. Was he saying what I think he was saying?

"I guess what I'm saying is…"

He turned to face me.

"I like you too."

… I… I… I don't believe it… He said it. He likes me back. I could feel relief rush over me, and I actually swooned from the anticipation. Inyo was there to catch me as we locked gazes. He actually said it… He said he likes me… I can't possibly explain how happy I am right now.

"You… mean it?" I asked.

"You know I do." He returned with a tender smile.

He helped me back to my feet as we looked into each other's eyes once more. Something in me pushed my head forward and closed my eyes, and I could see something in Inyo's had him do the same as he brushed my bangs over my ear and drew closer. In an instant, our lips touched. I was walking on air… Butterflies danced in my stomach… This feeling… I love it. In our state of complete ecstasy, it felt like an eternity before a buzzing from Inyo's watch interrupted the moment. I was disappointed when we pulled away, but I could see that Inyo was as well.

"Kemosabe?" Tonto called through his watch, "Kemosabe, are you there?"

"I'm here Tonto," Inyo said, "What's up?"

"We all were looking for you and Mallory to begin training. Where are you?"

"Oh… Uhh… We're in the park. We'll meet you guys at the gates to the campus in a little bit."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Alright." Tonto finished, "Be careful Kemosabe."

"We will."

Inyo looked at me again and blushed.

"Sorry about that…" He said, "I guess with what just happened I lost track of time…"

"I-It's ok." I replied, "I kinda was feeling the same too…"

"But ya know something?"

"What?"

"I wish I lost track of time more."

I couldn't help but smile as we planted another kiss before starting back. I… I don't believe it… I kissed him… Like REALLY kissed him… And he kissed me back. I was afraid I would have been going back to the dorm tonight in tears, but I guess I'll be doing it anyway, though with tears of joy and not of sorrow. We met up with Reno and our medabots at the campus gate about five minutes later.

"Where've you two been?" Reno asked with a grin.

"We uh…" Inyo replied, "We hung out while we waited on you."

"Hung out huh?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Oh nothing, just curious is all."

"Well then…" I began, "Are we ready to train?"

"That all depends on whether we find a place TO train." Shin Saber shrugged.

"Already taken care of." Reno chuckled.

Both Inyo and I gave him looks.

"What do you mean?" Inyo asked.

"I was talking with Alice while we waited on you two," Reno explained, "And we agreed upon sharing the same training spot. We get it every other day, and we'll alternate."

"Nice work Bro."

"Yes, I know I'm awesome."

Inyo proceeded to playfully punch his brother on the arm as we started for the construction zone. We arrived about ten minutes later and agreed upon working on our team skills; attacks that required up to attack together. We made a run-through of the maneuver we were working on, but for some reason I wasn't able to fully wrap my head around it; almost like I didn't really care at that moment. When Reno finished the explanation, I half-mindedly nodded in agreement and then had Shin Saber lead Ranger and Tonto at the makeshift target we set up. Reno ordered Ranger to initiate the maneuver as he dashed in and made a good slash to the dummy's torso.

"Inyo," He said, "You're up."

No response.

"Inyo!"

"W-what?" He returned, "Oh, right. Tonto, your turn!"

Tonto went in and added his slash to Ranger's, resulting in an 'X' formation on the target.

Reno motioned for me to take my turn and finish the maneuver, but in all honesty I didn't hear him.

He rolled his eyes and nodded to Shin Saber; who in turn initiated his part of the team attack with a vertical slash to the dummy.

Reno walked over and snapped me out of my trance.

"Hey," He said, "What's up? We gotta train."

"Oh, right…" I responded, "Sorry."

"Just try and keep focused. Let's try it again and see how close we can put our attacks consecutively. Inyo?"

"Sure thing." He said.

Reno started the maneuver again as Ranger dealt his attack. Inyo did better than before, though his order was still delayed a good deal. Tonto still initiated his attack, and then I ordered Shin Saber to finish the target off; though my delay was longer than Inyo's. About twenty minutes passed with us still practicing the same maneuver, and not getting any faster with it.

"What is up with you two?" Reno asked finally, "Where are your heads at?"

"Sorry Bro." Inyo sighed, "Just been distracted today is all."

"Yeah," I added, "Me too. I'm sorry Reno."

He sighed.

"Well I know one thing for sure," He said, "With the state you two are in, there's no hope of getting anywhere with our training. Let's try again tomorrow; maybe next time you two will be more focused and ready to commit."

"Sorry again Reno." I apologized.

"Don't worry about it, let's just try and relax tonight and then we'll pick it up again tomorrow."

"Much appreciated Bro." Inyo added.

He only shrugged as we started back for the College and wait for the medabots class to start.

"Hey," I started, "I was just curious. Are Inyo and Reno your actual names?"

"Actually they're not." Inyo answered.

"What do you mean?"

"They're acronyms." Reno added, "My full name is Ricardo Edward Nevada Obadiah Truckee."

"And mine is Indiana Nicodemus Yonah Octavius Truckee." Inyo finished.

"Due to this, people like to call us by our nicknames, Inyo and Reno."

Wow, quite a mouthful on either end.

"Huh, ok." I said, "Interesting."

"How about you?" Inyo asked, "What's your full name?"

"Mine? Oh, it's nothing compared to you two's."

"Aw come on. We told ya ours. Please Mal?"

There wasn't any way I could refuse to the guy that just admitted that he liked me; especially with the way he looked at me.

"Alright." I sighed, "My full name's Mallory Elizabeth Rider. See? Nothing special."

"Well it is to me." Inyo smiled.

Both Inyo and I blushed as Reno and the medabots were left in confusion.

"Umm, am I missing something here?" Ranger asked.

Inyo and I turned separate ways and tried to suppress the redness in our faces.

"Better not to know." Tonto said.

We eventually arrived and took a few seats to wait for Professor Winthrop and Aegis to come and unlock the classroom. They arrived about fifteen minutes later and took slight surprise to see us so early.

"Evening you three." Professor Winthrop greeted, "A little early for class I see?"

"Weren't able to train today." Reno explained, taking the ball in his court, "We couldn't wrap our heads around it for some reason. So we decided to come here and relax for a little while."

"Ah, I see. Well you're welcome to come inside and do it there if you want. I'm unlocking the classroom now."

I looked at my phone to find that it was just past 5:15 in the evening. It was still a good forty-five minutes to class, and very likely that it'd be nothing but silence if we sat in there. I got to thinking about the team next, and how I was nominated as the team leader. Honestly I don't see what made ME leader to begin with; I'm nothing special. Reno on the other hand, I can see he's full of leader qualities. He'd be much better off leading the team than I would be. I wonder if Professor Winthrop would let me pick a new team leader. Better to ask and know the answer than not ask and then not know at all. I excused myself as I entered the classroom and walked up to the professor's desk.

"Umm, Professor Winthrop?" I started.

"Yes?" He returned, "How can I help you Miss Rider?"

I looked around briefly to find Aegis moving a couple chairs to new locations in silence.

"I was wondering," I replied, "If it would be possible to nominate someone else in my team as the new team leader."

He remained silent for a moment before speaking.

"And to what do I owe this decision?"

"Well, as we trained, I noticed that someone else in my team was much more capable than I'll ever be. And thinking for the team, I think it'd be a good idea to let him be the new leader."

"Do you have someone in mind already?"

"Reno Truckee and Ranger."

"Alright. Do you have a REASONING for nominating them as your team's new leaders?"

"I do actually." I returned, "See yesterday, we went to a spot I thought would be a great place to train; but when we got there, Alice's team was already training there. Inyo challenged them to a marathon robattle and she agreed. He and I robattled our opponents; He won his and I lost mine, and then it was Reno and Alice left to break the tie. The way he was able to keep such a cool head in the heat of battle, it only shouted to me that he was more worthy of being team leader than I was, not including the fact that I LOST my robattle. So you see, I want to know if I can choose him as our new team leader."

Professor Winthrop was quiet as a grin grew on his face.

"To be honest Miss Rider, I knew about your team's robattle." He said.

Wait… what?

"You… Knew?" I repeated.

"While I was on my way to the business meeting, I asked Aegis to keep a watch on some of the teams and tell me how they're coming along. He told me that he came across your teams and watched you robattle so fiercely and bravely, and then I downloaded the footage when I returned from my meeting to watch it myself. I must say, I am VERY impressed with how you ALL did on both teams; and if you don't mind I'd like to show this in class tonight."

"Oh… Uhm… Sure. I don't see why not."

"Much appreciated. Now about Mr. Truckee…"

"So you'll let me make him team leader?"

"Hmm… I don't see any reason to say no. Call him in here."

Relief swept over me.

"Thank you Professor."

"Don't mention it, just remember that you'll be taking orders from him now; and HE'LL be in charge of training sessions and your team's well-being."

"I understand, and to be honest I feel more comfortable receiving orders in a team robattle than giving them."

"Acceptance of who you are… That is the first step to victory."

I smiled as I left the classroom and told Reno that the Professor wanted to see him. He returned about ten minutes later with a very surprised look on his face. His first action was to walk straight up to me.

"You didn't…" He denied.

"Didn't what?" Inyo asked.

"You seriously didn't do that…"

"DIDN'T DO WHAT?!"

"Yes I did Reno," I nodded, "You're our team leader now."

"W-What?!" Inyo stammered, "He's… Our team leader now?"

"Reno really proved himself yesterday when he robattled Alice." I said, "And with that said I feel he's much more deserving of that title than I am."

Reno was left silent.

"So you really think that I'm leader quality huh?" He finally asked.

I nodded in agreement.

"Now that I think about it…" Inyo mused out loud, "I think Reno's perfect for the leader role. He's cool and collected, and always stays calm in the midst of a heated fight. Yeah, you have my vote for team leader."

"Mine too." Ranger added.

"And mine Kemosabe." Tonto chimed in.

"I supposed it IS the best call for the team," Shin Saber said, "Alright, I suppose Reno is our team's new leader."

"You guys are too much."

"And YOU'RE too awesome of a Bro." Inyo chuckled as he held up his fist for a fist-bump.

Reno returned the favor with his own fist. Well, the deed is done, Reno is the new leader of our team, and I think that it's really the better call if I think about it. Inyo was right; he kept a very cool head in his robattle with Alice, and made sure to back up his orders with strategy. He really is leader quality, and I think that our team will take a turn for the better with him in charge. It was still another twenty minutes or so before class started, but we agreed to simply relax and talk before it began. All the while I stayed especially close to Inyo, and he returned my gesture by putting his arm around my waist to hold me close to him. I could see that Reno took notice, but decided to say nothing about it. In all honesty I really don't care if he knows or not, all I care about is that Inyo likes me, I like him, and that's not going to change. Eventually Marcus and his team, minus Trigger and his two medabots, arrived and joined our chat. Marcus asked about our robattle yesterday, since he heard the story from Hector's perspective, and I simply told him that I agreed to let Professor Winthrop play the footage in class since Aegis watched the whole thing. His team was surprised when I said that, but I could easily see that both Marcus and Aimflash were especially excited to see the footage for themselves.

* * *

**Ahh… So love is in the air after all. Inyo and Mallory have just confessed their feelings for each other, and honestly couldn't feel happier. Regarding class, what'll be everyone's thoughts on what Aegis watched and recorded of the marathon robattle? The only way to find out is to read on when the next chapter is posted. Until then, rate and review please.**

**MORE MEDABOTS! MORE POWER!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey all, Steam here with another update. So last time love was certainly in the air; will it be hanging around for this chapter? You'll just have to read on to find out.**

**Credit to Natsume for Medabots, AproposFool89 for Alice Silverwind and Beta Reading, and me for everyone else.**

**And I greatly appreciate reviews, so leave one maybe?**

**This chapter is told from Marcus's POV**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

After Mal told us that we were gonna watch their team's robattle with Alice's team in class, it was another time where I wish that I could speed up time so I could see it sooner. As we talked, Mal let us in on another surprise.

"By the way," She said, "There's been a change to our team."

"Change?" Aim repeated, "Change as in how?"

She only pointed to Reno.

"Alright," I shrugged, "What about Reno?"

"I'm the new team leader." He answered.

I could feel my mouth gape open a bit.

"No way…" I denied.

"Yes way." Reno nodded, "Mallory here believes that I'm leader quality, so she asked Professor Winthrop if she could nominate me as new team leader, and he said she could. So long story short, I'm team leader now."

"With us to back 'em up a hundred percent." Inyo added.

I glimpsed over at Inyo, and I could easily sense that he was in an even better mood than he normally is… or at least what I've seen as normal in the few days I've known 'em. The only problem however… is that I couldn't see WHY he was so happy tonight. My only clue was that Mal was easily as happy as he was. Ah well; whatever it is, I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually… one way or another. While we talked I watched Trigger and his two bots walk into the classroom in silence. He came back out about five minutes later and pointed at me.

"You," He said, "Get over here."

Both Aim and I shared looks as we excused ourselves and followed him to see Professor Winthrop.

"Alright Professor," Trigger started, "He's here."

"I can see that Mr. Holemann." He returned, "You may leave now."

I could hear both Wild Harry and Gun Desperado cackle to themselves as they followed him outside the classroom.

"Confused I assume?" The Professor asked as I nodded, "Well it seems that Mr. Holemann has requested a team change."

"He WHAT?!" Aim and I stammered.

I can't believe it! The guy just up and quit our team. I can't help it if we're not the best partners in the world, but I'm sorry we don't think shoot 'em up blow 'em up like you do. Now I'm ticked! Professor Winthrop could see that in my expression as I prepared to turn and march straight for Trigger and tell 'em off.

"Now before you go and march off in anger," He said, "Listen first."

Come on, really? I'm fuming mad right now, and you honestly think that I'm going to stand still and let you talk?

"He came to me and said nothing of you." Professor Winthrop explained, "He told me that he wasn't fitting in your team and requested a trade-off with someone else. Nothing against you in any way Mr. Coleman."

He may say that, but it feels an awful lot like it; and I can see that Aim feels the same way. Just wait until I see that guy again… he's gonna get it from me good!

"Now I already have a new partner for your team in place of Mr. Holemann," He finished, "I'll call them up here when they arrive in class tonight. I will suggest however that you take seats near the front of the class."

Ok… I'm confused. Who's this new person he's pairin' us with? And why pick seats near the… oh yeah, the footage! Well I dunno if that's the reason or not, but it's good enough for me.

"Alright," I said, doing my best to cool off, "Thank you Professor."

"You're welcome, now go ahead and save some seats for you and your partners."

I motioned for Aim to go get 'em real quick as I tried to save seats not only for my team, but also for Mal- I mean… Reno's team. Man that'll take some getting used to. It worked as Inyo, Reno, and Mal took the seats behind me and Natalie; with our bots keeping close to us. I turned around to find Trigger walk in with his two bots as I scowled in frustration.

"Hey Marcus," Natalie started, "Why's Trigger not over here?"

"Cuz he defected over to another team." I grumbled.

"I beg your pardon?" Sherlock exclaimed.

"You heard right Sherlock." Aim agreed, "The Professor said that he's assigning us a new teammate to replace 'em; and if you ask me ANYBODY'S better than that jerk."

"Still…" Natalie mused out loud, "Why would he just leave?"

"Probably because we wouldn't adapt to his fighting style or let 'em be the boss." I shrugged.

"Well, regardless… It's still rude."

No kidding Natalie, that's one reason of many that I'm so ticked at. Eventually the last of the students rolled in as one was motioned by the professor to be spoken with. While they were speaking I was able to get a good glimpse at his medabot, and I think I almost dropped my jaw at who it was. CHA-0 "Chuugen Hao", one of the latest models on the market, and I hear one of the most deadly too based on the little information I understand on this guy. His whole upper half was based on a mighty, sky-blue colored, dual spear-wielding, mythical warrior; while his bottom half was a wheel-based leg made to look like a red-colored steed. His medafighter finished with Professor Winthrop as he turned and took the seat to my right. He was dressed in a sky blue button up shirt, unbuttoned and used like an over-shirt, with a red t-shirt underneath; very likely to mirror his bot. He had blonde spiky hair and more of a patient look on his face as he scooted past Natalie and I and then sat down in his seat. He didn't say a word as the rest of the class chatted amongst themselves for a few minutes. Being team leader, I decided to open up the conversation.

"I'm Marcus," I introduced, "And you are?"

"Calhoun." He returned, "And I know all about you Marcus, so no need to introduce yourself."

"Wait… what?"

"Learning everything about your opponent, and then using what you learn to your advantage; this is the true key to victory."

Dang… I dunno if thus guy's better or worse than Trigger at this point.

"I do appreciate the gesture though." He finished with a grin, "It's a sign of respect. So with that said, it'll be a pleasure to robattle with your team."

He motioned for his bot.

"Allow me to introduce Lu Bu. But call him Chuu."

He only nodded respectfully as parked himself in front of Calhoun's desk.

"Awesome medabot." Natalie chimed in, "Well since we're introducing ourselves, I'm Natalie. Over here is my bot, Sherlock, and over there is Marcus's bot, Aimflash."

"About Chuu…" I asked, "How in the world did you get a hold of a model like that? It costs like a fortune no matter where ya look these days since it's like the hottest thing out there."

"It's quite simple." Calhoun chuckled, "I was an official Beta Tester for the model before it was released, and as a reward for my help the Medabot Company in my hometown gave me a set."

"Awesome-ness." Aim said excitedly, "So Chuu, how do those parts work exactly? They look awfully heavy."

"Only if you're not used to them." He responded, now easily seeing how he towers over Aim in height.

Huh, makes sense. Alright I think I may like this guy. Just the behavior alone is a MAJOR improvement from Trigger. I can only hope that the team he did change to has enough patience to put up with 'em… cuz I know WE didn't since he's such a big jerk. After a little more talking and getting to know our new teammate, as well as introducing him to our friends, the twins and Mal, Professor Winthrop called the attention to him to begin the class.

"Evening class," He began, "I would first like to apologize for cancelling class last night. I was called to important meeting and I couldn't back out. So to make up for it, I have two things in mind for this class. The first is that I will be extending class time out an hour longer than normal. The second…"

He prepared the ceiling projector and pulled down the screen in front of the whiteboard.

"Will be a class discussion on what you feel is the best strategy when it comes to robattling, based on the vide we're about to watch. Would Teams Alice and Reno please stand?"

Alice, Hector, and Karlos stood silently as the twins and Mal did the same; though there was a little whispering amongst the rest of the students.

"Err… Professor?" Hector asked, "Wasn't Mallory the leader of 'er team?"

"The team unanimously voted to change leaders." The Professor answered, "And as a quick note to the other team leaders; if you want to change your teams at any time before the end of the Semester tournament, bring your team and talk to me."

"So you couldn't take the pressure could ya?" Karlos laughed arrogantly, "Decided to chicken out and let someone else take the beating?"

"Mr. Egil!" Professor Winthrop sharply addressed with a glare, "That will be enough. No slandering of names will be tolerated in my class or you will be personally expelled. Do I make myself clear?"

The class was dead silent as Karlos looked like a divine bolt of lightning struck 'em down.

"Yes sir." Was Karlos's answer as he retreated silently.

I looked back to see Mal almost on the verge of tears from Karlos's comments; but I did notice that Inyo has clasped her hand tightly and mouthed "it's alright" to her. This is just sad… that someone as nice and pretty as Mal had to be subjected to such despicable things. I'm glad Professor Winthrop struck him down like he did, but the thought of kicking that jerk Karlos from the class was becoming more and more tempting as I thought about it.

"Now then," The Professor continued as the two teams sat down, "These two teams had, though not intentionally, taken their training to the next level yesterday. I won't go into the details, but I will say that both Alice and Reno's teams certainly made their power and abilities quite clear. What your about to see is footage of that marathon robattle. How was the footage taken? It was thanks to Aegis."

The great-horned medabot only nodded in silence as he walked for the back of the room to turn out the lights.

"Furthermore, I would like to encourage discussion at the end of each robattle about what you personally found interesting about how it played out; and I will be pausing after each robattle to allow short discussions before continuing on. Understand?"

Everyone in the class nodded as he played the video. It started just as Mr. Referee had appeared and prepared to announce the first robattle with Inyo and Hector. Oh boy this is gonna be good, and I could see that Aim was equally as excited as I was as he sat on my desk and watched. The robattle between Tonto and Piraskull was shorter than Hector made it out to be, but it was still awesome to watch as Tonto really let 'em have it at the end with that laser attack. I made a brief glimpse at Hector and saw that he tried to hide his face in his bandana, though recently took notice that Piraskull's head part was temporarily changed to KZB-01 Kobundana from the model KZB-0 "Pirastar". I guess he wasn't able to fix the original head part in time for class. He looked kinda funny with that part equipped, but I won't judge. I looked back to the front as the Professor paused the video and stood up.

"Alright," He began, "Any thoughts on the first robattle?"

"I'll say one thing." One guy piped up from behind Hector, "Piraskull sure got his tin rear kicked!"

"WATCH IT BOY!" Piraskull barked as he pointed his sword at 'em, "You best keep yer lips shut if you wanna keep 'em connected to yer ugly face!"

Hector shared a glare as they both stared the guy down to the floor.

"Piraskull," Aegis called, "Can it and sit down."

Piraskull growled in frustration as he sat back down on Hector's desk.

"Yes," Professor Winthrop continued, "Anything else to be said?"

Calhoun raised his hand.

"Yes Mr. Takeo?" The Professor asked.

"I was wondering if you could rewind the video back to the moment Piraskull initiated his spin attack."

Professor rewound the video as I saw Calhoun watch it carefully as the video continued from that spot, but paused when he asked to stop the video.

"Find anything interesting?"

"Yes actually." He returned, "I just wanted to take a look at Piraskull's spin attack again and see how he pulled it off. I must say that it was an impressive maneuver to use with an opponent that tried closing the distance like what Tonto did; but I also wanted to point out that the maneuver also seemed to have been Piraskull's fatal mistake since he drilled his leg into the gravel."

"Give us a break Laddie," Hector sighed, "It be an all or nothin' chance; we took the chance and it be what sunk our ship."

"I'm not saying that it was a dumb choice," Calhoun corrected, "I said it was a very good maneuver, just from now on I would pay attention to what terrain you're fighting on in order to avoid the same mistake."

"Interesting observation Mr. Takeo," The Professor nodded, "Would there be any recommendations you could give to Mr. Sparrow?"

"All I'll say would be to avoid that maneuver if you're fighting on terrain that gives under your feet when stepped on, such as sand or gravel, unless you have a backup plan to compensate for the time it would take for Piraskull to pull his leg free." Calhoun replied, and then turned to Hector, "I apologize if what I said before sounded like an insult; I assure you I had good intentions."

"Ahh, no worries Lad," Hector waved casually, "I be understandin' ya well. Many thanks for the advice."

Natalie and I shared looks of surprise at Calhoun's knowledge and how he explained his observations. Dang… this guy is impressive. I think I even saw Alice raise an eyebrow at this guy from across the room. The Professor continued the video to play Mal and Karlos's robattle, and I'll agree with Hector… that fight didn't even last three minutes! Naturally there wasn't much discussion regarding that robattle besides to try outwitting your opponent if you couldn't overpower them. I could sense Mal beginning to frown in grief from behind me. I glimpsed at Natalie as she looked back at Mal, and then grinned for some reason. I don't wanna be seen as an intruder into something that's not my business, so I remained facing forward. We finally made it to the main event robattle between Alice and Reno. Finally I get to see the REAL competition! Aim shared my excitement as we both high-fived each other in anticipation. When the video finished… holy… stinkin'… cow… I have no words to describe how awesome that robattle was. A TIE?! That's like a million-to-one impossible! Well, maybe I'm exaggerating, but STILL! A tie! I can now see two things made clear to me. One was that Mal's decision to make Reno team leader can now be seen perfectly. Two is that Alice is sure a tough fighter, I better learn to watch my back should I ever robattle her; and it's more than likely I will be at some point, so I better make the most of this video footage and keep it in mind for future reference.

"Now then," Professor Winthrop began, "Any thoughts on this robattle?"

No one raised their hands, and I can easily see why. I have a feeling no one's daring to speak on this one out of pure respect for the two fighters involved. I looked back at Reno as he gave me a shrug, and then I looked over at Alice, who was reclined in her chair with her arms crossed. Eventually Calhoun raised his hand, as the Professor gave him the floor.

"It's awfully hard to properly determine points on both combatants," He said, "But I wanted to point out a couple I saw plainly. First on Ranger. I must first commend him on the use of his Auxiliary Charge in order to keep up with Natsu. Ragna6 is surely a quick-footed model, but the extra speed is was kept the fight even. The only thing I personally would have done differently would be to have not taken Natsu head on and clashed blades like they did. The stress pushed the blades to their limits and that's why they broke off. On to Natsu, I'll go ahead and say that she in all cases held the speed advantage initially if you compare base levels; being as quick and agile as she was. The only other observation was on her action of going in for the kill on an opponent that was nowhere near close enough to be taken out like she and Alice planned."

Wow… This guy really knows his stuff. And apparently Alice noticed this too as she knitted her eyebrows together and focused on him with, I'm guessing, surprise and irritation. Everyone else in the room was silent as well.

"Very interesting observations Mr. Takeo," Professor Winthrop grinned, "Is there anything you would say to Mr. Truckee and Ms. Silverwind?"

Calhoun thought hard.

"Honestly," He answered, "The only things I can say, since they both executed their strategies quite well, would to Reno- I would watch your overall speed a little more and see just how fast Ranger can get when pushed. To Alice… Hmm… My only recommendation would be to try wearing down the opponent a little more first, before going in for the kill."

I looked behind me at Reno, and shrugged and nodded in agreement. Alice on the other hand looked at Calhoun like he grew a second head and started speaking fluent Italian. I could see she may have been offended in some way.

"I'll agree." Reno said, "Ranger may be quick, but he's got potential to be quicker. I'll have to look into that."

"And what about you Ms. Silverwind?" Professor Winthrop asked as he looked her way.

"… Thanks… I'll look into that." She grumbled, though did her best to remain cool-headed.

We finished discussions as class continued until 8:30. From there we packed up our stuff and headed back to our dorms. Before my team left, we all made sure to have contact information for both Calhoun and Chuu; so Natalie and I got Calhoun's cell number while Aim and Sherlock exchanged server addresses with Chuu. Plus I found out that they're in the Blue Corundum dorms, making it a little easier to get together for training. Calhoun and Chuu started ahead of us, though I watched Alice march after him at a brisk pace. Uh-oh… this won't be good. I have a feeling that she's gonna tell 'em off for what he said about her and Natsu in class. Natalie and the bots agreed that they were interested too as we peeked around the corner to listen in.

"Who do you think you are?" We heard Alice say.

"Just a medafighter," Calhoun responded casually, "Like you."

"You are nothing like me, so stop acting like you know strategy when you don't. Natsu and I practice OUR strategies the way WE see fit, not YOU!"

"And I never said for you to start all over again. All I suggested, SUGGESTED, was to try looking into wearing down your opponent a little more before you go in for the kill. That's all I said."

"Stop acting like a know-it-all!"

We saw Calhoun put his hands up in surrender.

"Fine," He said, "I apologize if what I said sounded offensive. It was just MY observation that I stated, I never said it was something you HAD to do."

"Let me give you a good piece of advice." Alice returned sharply, "Either back up what you say with proof of your power, or don't say anything at all."

"Understood, now can I go back to my dorm now?"

Alice was growling in silence. Holy cow, I think Calhoun just played her game and trumped her.

"Let's go Natsu." She said finally, "We've no reason to be here."

"Yes Alice." Natsu acknowledged as she followed her down the hall.

We watched Calhoun and Chuu look at each other and shrug before starting for the dorms. Natalie and I looked at each other in surprise as we agreed not to do anything to tick Alice off. She and Sherlock then left for the Pigeon Blood dorms as Aim and I met Reno, Ranger, and Tonto to wait on Inyo. Both he and Mal blew all five of us away when they kissed each other goodbye to head back to their dorms. Seriously? Did that REALLY just happen? Inyo and Mallory? Together? I am so confused right now. Inyo met us as we walked back to our dorm together. My curiosity however got the best of me.

"Did you really kiss Mal back there?" I blurted out, but then felt like an idiot for doing so.

"Smooth move Chief." Aim teased as I whacked my heel into his left leg.

"Yeah." Inyo responded, blushing slightly, "See… Mal and I… we're uh… together."

"YOU'RE WHAT?! Aim exclaimed, oh the irony of this situation.

"We're together." Inyo repeated, "Mal told me earlier today that she really liked me, and in all honesty I really like her. She's kind, and sweet… gosh…"

Seeing the rest of us exchange glances, Inyo regained his composure and brought his head back from Cloud Nine.

"So you really like her huh?" Was all Reno could say.

Inyo nodded as a grin grew on his twin's face.

"Well then," Reno continued, "Just make sure treat her right."

"Wait a sec," I interrupted, "You're ok with this?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" He returned, "I trust Inyo's good judgment, so there's no reason I should be against it. If my brother's found a girl, then I should be happy for 'em."

Inyo grinned at Reno as he returned the gesture.

"What about you Marcus?" Reno asked, "You met that someone yet?"

Ok, I had a feeling I would be talking about this subject at some point, but no matter whether it's now or four years from now, it'll still be an awkward subject to talk about.

"Well uh…" I answered, "Not really."

"Well what about Nata-" Aim started, but gave him another kick to his leg to shut 'em up.

"About who?" Inyo inquired.

"Nobody." I said, "Nobody at all."

Aim messaged me via my watch, "Liar liar pants on fire."

I gave 'em a look as we started up the stairs for the fourth floor of the Theodra Beryl dorms.

"But what about you Reno?" I asked, "You meet anyone?"

"Not yet." He shrugged, "But I have a feeling that I may meet her yet."

Aim messaged me on my medawatch again, just to make sure that we could talk quietly.

"You gotta tell 'em." It said, "They were brave enough to tell you their feelings; especially Inyo, who's actually IN a relationship."

"I know…" I messaged back, though was careful to weave to the back of our group to do so, "But things aren't in a relationship point yet. So what's the point?"

"The point is that you're chicken. Now either you tell 'em or I will, and you know that I spare no details when I explain things."

I grumbled as Aim gave me a look. He had me cornered and he knew it… I hated it when he did that. Even when I was a kid he would do that to me. Like if back in grade school and middle school I did something I wasn't supposed to, Aim would say that if I didn't tell Mom he would. He kept me outta trouble for the most part, but I absolutely hated it with a passion when he pulled this card on me.

"Well…" I said, "There is… this one girl I've been getting to know…"

"Oh? And who would that be?" Inyo asked.

"Well uh… Uhm… It's uh… Natalie."

"Mayweather?" Reno inquired.

"Unless there's another Natalie in this College I don't know about… yeah…"

Inyo and Reno looked at each other and then at pathetic ole' me as they grinned.

"We had a feeling." Reno said.

"Wait… what?" I sputtered.

"I actually got to meet Natalie yesterday on her way to a class. She seems like a really nice girl."

"That she is." Aim agreed, "And she really knows her stuff too."

I could feel my face getting red in embarrassment at this point.

"But don't worry about it." Inyo smiled, "If you like her then tell her. The worst that could happen is that she thinks differently."

"You guys are just tryin' to make me feel better." I sassed.

"We really mean it. I mean, look at me and Mal. We ran into each other in the hallway earlier today and our outing turned into a date and a revealing of feelings."

"All we're saying," Reno added, "Is that if you do like Natalie, then tell her. Invite her on an outing of some sort, study together, I dunno."

Well, it's worth a shot. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? Natalie tells me she hates my guts and never wants to see me again and change teams? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but hey, it's better than under-thinking it and it blowing up in my face. Maybe tomorrow I'll try something, I dunno what, but I'll put some thought into it. We entered our dorm and went to our rooms to change and relax for the evening. Due to this being the first week of classes I have no homework to work on, so I just collapsed on my bed for a few minutes before deciding to surf the net for a little while. I opened my laptop and found a new message in my email. I opened it to find it was from Mom, saying that she received the picture of me and the twins and said that they look like really nice boys. I hit reply and said that they're some pretty good guys, and total joys to be around, and more pictures to come… Plus to send the Wii when they could. I finished by saying that maybe on a weekend or something we can try a video chat and talk some more. I hit send and executed my plan of surfing the net for entertainment. About an hour passed before I decided to call it a night and get some rest.

"Night Aim," I said with a yawn as I climbed into the bed, "See you in the morning."

"Night Chief." He returned.

"Oh, one more thing."

"Yeah?"

"Quit using your blackmail card on me will ya? It gets old."

"A bot's gotta do what a bot's gotta do."

I simply rolled my eyes and chuckled as I turned out the light and dozed off. Maybe I should try asking Natalie out. It'd be worth a shot.

* * *

**So now Marcus's team consists of himself, Natalie, and Calhoun. Trigger really was a jerk, but now who's stuck with 'em and how will they fare? Will Marcus ever gain the courage to take a step with Natalie? And what're Alice's current feelings after telling Calhoun off like she did? The only way to find out would be to read on.**

**Rate and Review please, it's not that hard to do.**

**MORE MEDABOTS! MORE POWER!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Salutations my good fellows, this is Sherlock. Though unfortunate, Master Steam was unable to present this new chapter to you himself, so he requested of me to do it for him. So, in his stead, may I present to you Chapter 10 of New Beginnings.**

**Myself and the other Medabots belong to Natsume, credit for Beta-reading and Miss Silverwind go to Master AproposFool89, and Master Steam retains credit for everyone else.**

**One other item Master Steam requested me to ask of you fine chaps would be to leave a review for him. He told me he greatly appreciates anything to be said about his writing.**

**One final note, this chapter is from Miss Natalie's Point of View.**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

Classes the next day were relatively easy. I only had a Science class, but since it was the first week there was no Lab afterwards. As I was heading out, I remembered that I was supposed to meet Marcus and Calhoun for training in about fifteen minutes. Thankfully Sherlock was waiting outside the door for me to get out of class as we agreed to make a quick stop by our dorm to drop off my books. On the way there I passed by Inyo and Mallory and gave them a wave. I did however notice that there was a third with them. She was dressed in short denim overalls with a grey t-shirt underneath them. Her black hair was noticeably longer than mine, but shorter than Mallory's, as it was forced into a ponytail through the denim cap she was wearing. Something that intrigued me however was that she had a smudge or something black on her cheek and another on her forehead; she however seemed to have cared less that it was there… either that or she didn't notice. Mallory called Sherlock and I over to them just as we prepared to pass them. I was hesitant to say maybe later, but it'd be kinda rude to just keep going.

"Miss Natalie," Sherlock said, "We really should be on our way to meet with Masters Marcus and Calhoun."

"I know Sherlock…" I returned, "But I'm hoping this should only take a minute."

We turned back and met the three.

"Hey," I greeted, "What's up?"

"We just thought we'd say hey." Inyo answered.

"And we were wondering if you were free today." Mallory added.

"Well I wish I was," I sighed, "But I have to meet up with Marcus and Calhoun for training."

"So you guys got Calhoun?" The other girl asked, "You're lucky. We're stuck with that jerk Trigger since he requested to change teams."

"And you are?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm Isabella. Isabella Farris at your service. But call me Bella."

"Bella and I share the same English class," Mallory explained, "And since I ran into her today I thought I'd ask if she wanted to hang out with us."

A medabot poked at Bella's backside. I'm surprised I didn't notice him before, though with his all back body with silver accents it was a little difficult to see him at first. He had twin wheels on his leg that he used for propulsion and balance, as well as two large deflectors on his shoulders. He also had a large cylinder on the top of his head, though I was unable to figure out his model type. Bella turned to face him, and then nodded.

"This is Charge." She introduced to me and Sherlock, "My medabot, and short for Degoicharge."

He waved in a friendly manner.

"Interesting medabot," Sherlock replied, "What type is he?"

"He's a D51 class Steam Locomotive type. He doesn't look like much but he'll railroad you faster than you can drive a spike into the ground."

Ah, steam locomotive. Makes sense now that I can see the resemblance and notable features. Charge poked Bella again, only this time a little harder. She turned and nodded again as he pointed down the hallway.

"Well it seems I got a green signal." Bella finished, "So I gotta hit the mainline before it gets clogged and I miss my timetable."

"Alright, bye Bella." Mallory waved.

"Later Mals. Let's go Charge."

He followed as the two disappeared into the crowds of other students. I dunno about Inyo or Mallory, but I barely understood Bella. I checked my phone as Sherlock gave me another time check and said we really had to go. I waved Inyo and Mallory goodbye as Sherlock and I headed for the front gate. Well, so much for dropping my stuff off. We arrived at the front gate to find Calhoun, Chuu, and Aimflash, but Marcus was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Marcus?" I asked when we arrived.

"Still in class." Aimflash shrugged, "So we're here just killin' time."

"Alright, any idea on when he'll be out?"

"No idea."

Gee, THAT helps a lot. Ah well, I guess if I'm gonna be stuck waiting, I may as well go and kill some time myself.

"Well…" I said as I stretched, "I'm gonna go drop off my stuff and take a walk then. See you guys later."

That's it, play the cool and collected girl act. I headed back to my dorm and left my books on my bed to tend to later as I decided to explore the town some more. I passed by the guys again and left Sherlock with 'em; still no Marcus in sight. Ah, what am I worrying about? Everything will be just fine. It's still early into the afternoon, and medabots class doesn't start for another few hours. I passed by the park as I saw my brother walking out and turning the corner. Aha! Sherlock hasn't told 'em yet about what happens the next time Zack borrowed 'em without my permission, this is my chance to let 'em have it.

"Hey, Zack!" I called.

I could see the kid jump almost three inches off the ground as he turned to face me. I motioned him over my way as he hesitantly complied.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"Let's talk." I replied as I ushered 'em back into the park.

"About what?"

"You know what."

I felt him tense up.

"I'll give you a hint." I said, "He belongs to me, and you BORROWED him again without me knowing."

"Aw come on Natalie," He whined, "You know I don't have a medabot of my own. Why can't I just use Sherlock until I do?"

"Because of two reasons… Three, actually now that I think about it. Firstly, I bought Sherlock with my own money that I EARNED myself and saved, so he's mine; not yours to use whenever you please. Secondly, if you keep using Sherlock you're never gonna buy your own bot. THIRDLY…"

This next point was the biggest reason why I hate it when Zack takes Sherlock.

"You only use him as is and not equip any attack parts. You're such a purist."

"That's because I don't have any medaparts, let alone attack parts."

"And why do you think that is?" I retorted.

"Cuz I don't have any money…" He mumbled.

"You can fix that you know."

"But it'll take me forever to be able to afford a medabot of my own and get everything I need."

"That's because all the stuff you NEED are things you WANT, when in reality you only need to get three things."

"But then I won't be unbeatable! I don't wanna start from the bottom and be the loser!"

"Life sucks, I know it; but you can change that."

"How…"

I sighed as I handed him a twenty.

"You spend this on anything else and not save it for a set of medaparts, a medal, and a tinpet, and that's the end of any generous donations from me. Capeesh?"

He nodded as he put it in his pocket.

"One other thing," I said, "You take Sherlock again without me knowing, and I'll make sure Mom and Dad have your head on a platter for Thanksgiving."

"You'll never get 'em to do that." He challenged.

Oooooh… A challenge is it? Heh heh… Alright, two can play that game; and I'm the queen of it.

"Oh believe me…" I grinned mischievously, "I can be very persuasive…"

Ha Ha! The look on his face when I said that, priceless! That was totally worth it, though I really should be a little more lenient in my wording if I don't wanna get chewed out for it later by my parents…

"Alright," I sighed, "That was a joke, but I won't be so nice the next time you borrow Sherlock and robattle with him without asking."

"Alright, I get it…" He muttered, "Gosh why do big sisters have to be so vicious?"

"We're only vicious if annoying little brothers like you make us that way Hun." I teased as I started back for the campus.

Oh how he hated it when I called 'em that… Hehe. Well, I had my fun for today, I hope Marcus is out of class so we can get to training. I arrived to find Calhoun and Chuu missing, though Aimflash was still there. This was disappointing.

"Where IS everyone?" I asked.

"Marcus just messaged me about five minutes ago." Aimflash replied, "He said that his teacher pulled a surprise test on 'em and he won't be out for another thirty minutes."

Hmm… Well that sucks…

"After I told Calhoun and Chuu, they left to go do something; I dunno what though."

"And Sherlock?" I inquired, not seeing him here.

"He wanted to head back to the dorm for a little while until you called 'em and said Marcus was out. So here I am… all alone… so lonely…"

Ok, I'll give Aimflash an award for comedic relief… He's doing such a corny job sounding sad and depressed that it was funny, so I couldn't help but giggle. Aimflash apparently heard me.

"So I got a laugh outta ya huh?" He jested, "I always thought about going into comedy when I retired from robattling."

"Well whatever the case." I giggled, "You can keep me company while we wait."

"What? Really?"

"Sure."

"Uhh… ok."

We sat on a bench in silence for a few minutes before I said I felt like going for a walk again. Aimflash tagged along as we started down the street and passed by the pizzeria.

"So…" He began, "Uhh…"

"What?" I asked.

"Ah, nothin'. Just wondering if I should ask this."

"Ask what?"

"Well uh…"

"Come on Aimflash," I assured, "You can tell me. I don't bite."

"You ready for it now?"

Ok, what's he trying to ask me?

"I guess." I responded.

"You sure?"

"Just say it already."

"What do ya think of Marcus?"

… Ok… I didn't see that coming.

"Well…" I began, "He seems nice; I'll start there."

"Would you care to explain further?"

I could feel my face heat up a bit.

"Not a chance." I retorted, "For all I know you could be recording this conversation to let him listen to later."

"No no," He returned casually, "No recording. I'm just curious."

"So… Marcus didn't put you up to this? He didn't ask you to talk to me?"

"Nope. Chief may be a great medafighter, but when it comes to girls he's on the South end of that scale."

"Is he now?"

"Eh, sorta. But I'll say this though, he seems to like you. Can't tell ya how many times in the last few days he seems to fluster every time someone brings up your name."

Now I know for a fact my cheeks turned red as I looked forward avoid eye contact and keep 'em from seeing.

"I mean," Aimflash continued, "It's just my honest opinion if you ask me. But I just wanted to know what you thought of 'em. He's a little carefree, but he's a really great guy once ya get to really take time to know 'em. Take it from me, and we've been best pals for over ten years."

I honestly had no idea on how to respond to that. Sure Marcus is a nice guy, but I really don't know. And now Aimflash had taken the initiative to say a bunch of great things about 'em, all without being asked. This is the sorta thing best friends do for each other, but a medabot? An artificial being? Taking the step for his medafighter? Aimflash glanced up at me as he waited for an answer. I can't just not say anything now, not with how highly he talked about Marcus.

"I can agree," I said at last, "At least, I can based on what I know of 'em so far."

"But do you LIKE 'em?"

"W-what?"

He pointed his Tripod at me, "Do you, like Chief?"

I really don't know… he's a really nice guy based on what I know thus far, but… I dunno.

"To be honest Aimflash…" I sighed, "I really don't know."

"Well… Do you wanna know?"

Aimflash's questions really seem to be getting to me. Normally I can answer people's questions pretty easily and quickly, but the ones Aimflash threw my way are really stumping me. Do I like Marcus? How do I really feel? I wish I knew… But right now I don't.

"Natalie?" Aimflash asked, seeing the blank stare in my face, "Did I say something I shouldn't have?"

"Oh, no." I responded, returning my head to reality, "I was just taken aback by your questions is all."

"Well as I said, do you wanna know Marcus better? You won't be sorry, trust me."

"I dunno Aimflash…"

"Come on, you're talkin' to a camera type."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I can read in between the lines so well it's like a second nature to me." He chuckled, "And the whole time we've been talkin', I've been seeing you scream that you wanna know Marcus better. And trust me, a camera never lies."

…I… I… wow… He really threw me for a loop here…

"I uh…" I mumbled, now at a sudden loss for words, "I guess it… I guess it wouldn't hurt to get to know Marcus better…"

"That's the spirit." He praised.

"But only as teammates." I reiterated, "Nothing more."

"Alright. Start small, no worries, take your time."

"Aimflash."

"What?"

"You're embarrassing me!"

"Well then let's make a bet."

"As in how?"

"If you fall for Marcus, and he you, you'll show him exactly how much he matters to you."

"And if we don't fall for each other?"

"I'll take back everything I said here and swear to have said nothing."

I was left silent as we stopped our walk.

"Ok," I agreed, "The deadline is midnight on Christmas. Deal?"

"Deal."

He held up his left arm Tripod as I shook it in a mutual bond.

"One other thing." I added, "Don't tell Marcus about this."

"You kidding?" He teased, "That'd ruin everything if we told 'em before then. Rest assured, my voice circuits are sealed."

I couldn't help but grin at the situation I just got myself into. Well… Lemme rephrase that… The situation I was talked into by a very crafty camera type medabot. From now until Christmas though, I'll have to really try and search myself as I know Marcus better. We reached the gate once again as Marcus finally made exited the building to meet us.

"Hey," He greeted, "So sorry I took so long. Right as everyone was packing up to leave class the teacher plopped a surprise test on the syllabus and course rules of the class on everyone's desks and said we couldn't leave until we finished it."

"N-no worries." I said, suddenly noticing I stuttered, "It's fine."

Marcus gave me a funny look.

"What's up with you?" He asked.

"Nothing," I returned, "Nothing at all, just tired from a long day of classes is all. Took a walk to try and clear my head."

I gave Aimflash a quick look as I turned and stretched.

"Ok… I'll have to take your word on that. So uh, where's Calhoun?"

"He left to go do something while he and Chuu waited on you," Aimflash answered, "I'll go ahead and call Sherlock real quick and let 'em know to meet us here."

Sherlock, Calhoun, and Chuu met us about five minutes later as we agreed to start training in the park.

About an hour passed before we agreed to take a small break. I must admit, Chuu's speed on roads easily rivals that of Aimflash, though because of the way his leg part is designed Chuu has less overall maneuverability. He however seemed to have compensated for that disadvantage well, and that'll be good for the team to have our bots move quickly. I'm hoping that when the end-of-semester tournament comes up, we'll be on a road or concrete type of terrain. I mean we'll have to put up with whatever terrain we'll be fighting on, but if it's anything soft like dirt of gravel then Chuu may have a serious drawback since he won't be able to move a lot. Oh well, we can only hope for the best until the actual tournament comes in a few months. Marcus noticed the blank stare on my face and returned me to reality.

"Hey," He said, "You alright? You're spacin' out there."

"Oh, sorry." I returned, "Just thinking is all."

"About?"

"About the team and our performance when the tournament actually comes."

"Well if you're afraid that we may lose, then I'll tell ya there's nothing to worry about; cuz when Aim and I lead a team, we lead 'em to victory!"

"You said it Chief." Aimflash added as they high-fived each other.

"Well we can see that team morale and determination certainly won't be lacking." Calhoun remarked.

"I can understand that," I answered Marcus, "But what I was most concerned about was our team speed. Aimflash and Chuu are pretty close in their speed on road-like terrain, and Sherlock's good on anything, but if we're fighting on something else in the tournament then we may be in trouble."

Marcus and Aimflash exchange looks before looking back at me.

"And what do you mean by that?" Marcus asked.

"I understand." Calhoun interjected, "Natalie's saying that if we end up fighting on anything other than a hard surface like concrete, then Chuu may prove to be a deadweight in battle."

"Not… Necessarily." I corrected, "True I'm worried about that factor, but I didn't say that Chuu won't be able to do anything; I only said that he may not be able to move a lot."

"She proves a point." Chuu agreed, "But I will assure you. Calhoun and I have battled on many terrains both hard and soft; and in all of them we have come out victorious without having to change parts. I do have a backup bipod type leg, but I rarely use it since I feel much more comfortable with my current leg. There is nothing to worry about, but I appreciate the concern. If it will assure you any further, then perhaps we should take our training to the grass terrain."

"I don't see any issue with that." Marcus shrugged, "Aim's pretty good on all terrain except sand anyway, so I'm up for training on grass and dirt. Natalie? Sherlock?"

Sherlock nodded in agreement as I said we could at least give it a try. Sure enough Chuu was right, even on grassy terrain he was still able to keep a good land speed. His turning was a little wide, but that was to be expected. Aimflash was able to keep up as well and still be able to fight easily, but I expected nothing less. I equipped Sherlock with left arm, DOG-13 'Battle Rifle', to show the guys that Sherlock's as capable in combat as he is in support. Sherlock proved his usefulness when he was able to snipe down targets as easily as Aimflash could. Chuu will be able to serve the role of the close-range fighter since both his arms use pole-arm based weapons. Eventually we took another break as I checked my phone. Medabots class started in thirty minutes, so we better get a move on. I alerted the others of the time, so we agreed to call it a night and head for class. Tonight's class session covered ranged attacking, such as rifles and lasers, and I'll admit that I learned quite a bit. Marcus on the other hand seemed kinda bored, but I guess if your bot specializes in ranged attacking, I sorta see why. Class ended around usual time as Sherlock and I headed back to our dorm, and the others heading to theirs. Mallory and Shin Saber joined me as we walked together. The whole time though, she was in a dazed sort of state with a dreamy look on her face. Seeing this, I couldn't help but giggle.

"Where're you at?" I teased.

"Cloud nine…" She returned.

"I can see that. Care to elaborate?"

"Inyo's taking me out this weekend, just the two of us."

"Sounds fun, any plans regarding that?"

"Not yet, but I honestly don't care where we go…Ahh…"

I giggled again as seeing this girl.

"But he's a really amazing guy," Mallory continued, "So I'm sure that it'll be a great time."

"I have no doubt." I returned.

"How long has she been like this exactly?" I heard Sherlock ask Shin Saber.

"Since the time she and Inyo shared their feelings." He returned with a shrug, "Naturally."

"It'd only make sense."

Well, it's likely that Mal doesn't seem to care what Sherlock or Shin Saber said as she sighed dreamily again. We entered our dorm to find Alice taking a snack with her to her room.

"Hey Alice," I greeted, "Up to anything?"

"Several things." She returned, "You?"

"Nothing really for me. Mal on the other hand…"

She giggled distractedly as she skipped to her room to get comfortable; with Shin Saber following.

"She's losing her focus on what's important." Alice remarked.

"She's in love." I replied, "Give her a break. Let her enjoy to moment."

"Love's a waste of time. It does nothing but cloud your senses with false hope."

"Says who?"

Alice remained silent as a buzzing was heard from her pocket. She left to her room and closed the door, leaving me, Sherlock, and Natsu alone in the living area. Natsu gave me a look before turning and entering Alice's room and closing the door behind her. Was it just me, or was Alice hiding something? I dunno exactly, but it seems a little fishy to me. I glanced at Sherlock, who only gave me a hesitant shrug before waiting on me to decide what to do. After a few moments I headed to my room to change and then let Sherlock in when I finished. About an hour passed as I killed time surfing my Facebook page and whatever else I felt like doing. Mal knocked on my door after a while.

"Hey Natalie?" She asked, "Could you help me with something?"

"Sure," I returned eagerly, "What's up?"

"I needed help re-dying my hair. I wanna change colors."

"To?"

She held up a bottle of blue dye, and instantly I knew why she wanted the color change. I agreed to help her out as we headed to the bathroom to work. About ten minutes passed as I helped wash the red out and clean her brunette locks, dry, and comb it straight. Just as I started preparing to set the dye, Mal decided to start a conversation.

"So…" She began, "Been up to anything?"

"Well," I answered, "Ya know, classes, training, et cetera."

"I meant something else."

"Oh?"

"Have you 'met anyone' yet?"

I could feel my face heat up as she asked that. First Sherlock, then Aimflash, and now Mal. Goodness what is going on here?

"Not really." I returned.

"What do you mean by 'not really'?" She inquired.

"Just means I haven't met anyone yet."

She looked at me through the mirror with a nonbelieving look on her face.

"What?" I asked.

"You're hiding something."

"What could I possibly be hiding?"

"Oh I dunno… perhaps you DO have someone in mind, you just aren't saying it."

"Mal-"

"You know it to be true. Don't lie to me now."

Rats… She had me and she had me good.

"Alright, fine." I confessed, "There's someone in mind, yes. But I still haven't quite decided on what to think yet."

"And would this person be a certain Marcus Coleman?"

My face felt warmer as she just giggled happily.

"No use hiding it," She laughed, "It's really easy to see."

Darn… She's got me cornered. But… she's right.

"Is it really that obvious?" I asked.

She motioned with her fingers to tell me "Just a little."

Just… perfect.

"Well truth be told." I retorted, figuring there was no use hiding anymore, "You're not the first to force the truth outta me."

"Oh?" Mal replied, "And who was first?"

"I'll give you a hint. He's a very clever camera type."

"Aimflash?"

"Yup."

"Aww… Going out of his way to ask what you think of his medafighter, how romantic."

"You're only saying that cuz you're still in utter bliss."

Mal couldn't help but giggle, "I suppose you're right. But still, what'd you say to him?"

"We made a bet."

"As in?"

"Whether I liked Marcus or not."

"And?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out." I grinned, "Now hold still while I work with the dye."

We talked for another fifteen minutes or so as I finished with the dye and let it set. By the time we left the bathroom, all the red that was in Mal's hair before was now a sapphire blue, as well as my hands sharing the color. I washed what I could off and then headed back to my room.

"Hey Natalie?" Mal started.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"Thanks for the help."

"No problem, glad I could help."

We went our separate ways and got comfortable in our own rooms before turning the lights out and getting some sleep. For about thirty minutes however, my mind wandered. Do I really like Marcus? Sure he's a nice guy, but… I just don't know yet. Maybe I will, but on the other hand maybe I won't; and I guess that's what's holding me back. Ahh… I'm sure it'll all come in good time. But if I am to get to know Marcus better, I guess it wouldn't hurt to at least see if he likes me back.

* * *

**So it would seem that Miss Natalie is at war with herself regarding her feelings for Master Marcus. I do hope that their relationship becomes something good later on, Master Marcus seems like a nice and caring fellow.**

**As requested previously, Master Steam said that reviews are greatly appreciated.**

**More Medabots, more power.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys, Steam here. Well I must first apologize for being unable to give you the last chapter myself, but I am glad that Sherlock took to ball in his court to put it here in my place. I've actually been wondering if I should let the bots introduce the chapters from here on, but I'm still not sure…**

***Aimflash*- Aw come on, what's got you hesitating? It'll be a great idea!**

**Hmm… That's a good question. Alright Aim, this one's all yours.**

***Aimflash*- Awesomeness! Now onto the main event! Here ya go, Chapter 11 of New Beginnings.**

**Credit to Natsume for me and the other bots involved, AproposFool89 for Beta-Reading and for Alice Silverwind, and Steamrail74 for everyone else.**

**And leave reviews will ya? It's awesome to hear from you guys, so do us a favor and tell us what you think.**

**One last thing, this Chapter's from Inyo's Point of View.**

* * *

**Chapter 11 ****(Two Weeks Later)**

It had been two weeks since the first week of classes. It got a little harder to balance training and whatever homework I've been assigned from each class, but I've been doin' ok; so I won't complain. Reno, Mal, and I have really stepped up our game in training, even going as far as experimenting with other types of attack parts to add a little variety to our team's maneuvers. Not necessarily as good of a plan by sticking with close combat, but hey ya never know what the other teams are planning. Marcus told me that he and his team's been doin' pretty good too, especially since Trigger left and was replaced with Calhoun. To be honest I kinda have to agree with Marcus, Trigger was a jerk, and his two Guns weren't any better. I really got a kick outta seeing Aegis judo flip those two across the classroom the first night of medabots class. This evening I didn't really have any homework to finish or work on, and Professor Winthrop emailed everyone and said that he had to go outta town again for a meeting, so class was cancelled tonight. It's kinda nice though since it would give us a break. Thinking about my break, I got to thinking about my date with Mal the other weekend. Ahh what a good time. We really didn't go anywhere specific, just walked around town, but as long as I'm with her I'm happy. I was also surprised to see that she changed the color of her hair to blue to match my bandana, but in all honesty she looks much better with blue than she did red in my opinion. Looking at my phone I remembered that I was supposed to be meeting Mal in the park today. I dropped my books off in the dorm with Tonto and the started for the park. It wasn't much longer before I saw those beautiful eyes of hers waiting for me at the gate.

"What took you so long?" Mal teased playfully as I met her.

"So I got delayed." I shrugged, "Couldn't help it."

"But I got so lonely waiting for you…"

She looked so helpless when she said that with a smile on her face, just tugged at me like no tomorrow. I clasped her and said that I was there now and there was no reason to worry. We exchanged a kiss before starting into the park. Through our walking however, it just hit me that I had no idea why we were walking through here to begin with.

"So Mal," I began, "Care to tell me why you wanted to walk through the park today?"

"I just wanted to see the leaves change colors on the trees." She answered, "I love it when this time of year comes around. Not too hot, a little chilly, but so beautiful all the while."

"So you're an autumn girl huh?"

"Well, winter too, but autumn would be my favorite season if I had to pick one."

"Both are nice seasons either way you look."

"Yeah."

Silence ensued, but in all honesty I really don't care. Our silence was interrupted by a familiar voice and accent.

"Avast me hearties!" It called, "If it ain't be two members of our rival team then feed me to the fishes and call me Davy Jones!"

We turned to find Hector and Piraskull walking towards us on the concrete path.

"Hi Hector." Mal greeted, "How're you?"

"Doin' fine Lass," He replied, "Thank ye for askin'. And how be yourselves this chilly autumn day?"

"Pretty good overall." I answered, "Just takin' a walk through the park."

"That too be what we're doin' me bucko." Piraskull nodded, "Does ye good if'n ya need to clear yer head."

"Sure does."

"So," Hector said, "Where be yer team leader?"

"Reno's somewhere in town." I explained, "So it's just me and Mal here."

Hector gave me a smirk as he looked briefly at Mal and I, and then at his medabot.

"Correct me if I'm wrong Lad," He started, "But it seems to me that there be an air o' romance between the two o' ya."

"That's right." Mal happily replied, "Inyo and I are together."

"Ahh that be explainin' the feelin' of ecstasy I sense around ya. Might I add you two make cute mates?"

Mal and I turned a little red as Hector and Piraskull shared a hearty laugh and slapped me on the back. Seriously, first Kyle, and now Hector and Piraskull. Eh, I honestly don't care though; I'm just glad I AM with Mal.

"Heh heh, forgive me Lads," He grinned as he wiped a tear from his eye, "Got a tad carried away there."

"But we do mean it by sayin' you two seem great fer each other." Piraskull added, "We swashbucklers just like to have fun every once in a while."

"Aww, well thanks. You guys are so sweet."

"Well, more salty if'n ya ask me Lass." Hector corrected comically as we all laughed at his comeback.

"Just curious," I asked, "Where're Alice and Karlos?"

"Ah, blade Karlos be out doin' somethin', though I've not the slightest idea what. Cap'n Alice be… busy, to say the least."

"Busy?"

"Aye Lad. Since that mate Calhoun made that comment on 'er and Natsu's robattlin' style she's been in nothin' but a silent speaker an' a strict leader."

"What do you mean?" Mal inquired.

"Let's be puttin' it this way." Piraskull stepped in, "If'n looks could kill, neither of us would be standin' 'ere."

Wow, looks like Alice decided to step up her game to get back at Calhoun. I honestly don't know what her deal is, but it's certainly piquing my interest. May as well and ask if Hector has any idea why that is.

"You have any idea why she's like that?" I asked, "Wanting to get back at Calhoun this badly I mean."

"Ahh, yer guess be as good as ours Lad," He shrugged, "But a Pirate knows one thing above all- obey the Cap'n or walk the plank. We obey the Cap'n, because we only shudder at what kind-o plank we be talkin' about 'ere if Alice ever be tellin' us to walk it."

Sheesh, Alice is sounding more and more like a dictator by the minute. But there has to be a reason behind it; the question is, what?

"Well I hate to talk an' run," Hector finished, "But Piraskull an' I have places be an' things to do."

"Ok, see you later Hector." Mal waved.

"Likewise Lass." He returned as he and his bot continued down the path behind us.

Mal and I continued on our walk and enjoyed each other's company. We eventually found a picnic bench to rest at and watch everything going on around us. Mal sat next to me as a chilly breeze rushed past us. Mal shivered a bit.

"You ok?" I asked.

"Just a little cold is all." She replied, "I should've worn a sweater today or something."

It was then that I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her body close to mine.

"May not be a whole lot," I said, "But I hope this helps."

"Thanks Inyo, you really are too sweet. How we ever chanced meeting is beyond me."

"But I'm glad we met. I don't think I've ever felt this great before."

"Same here."

We closed in for another kiss. That is, until another familiar face called out to us.

"Well lookie here," It called, "If it isn't our pals Inyo and Mallory."

Mal and I looked up to find Marcus and Aimflash walking our way.

"Hey guys." Marcus greeted, "We interrupting anything?"

"Well, not really." Mal answered, "What's up Marcus?"

"Ahh, just takin' a walk in the park is all."

"That seems to be everyone's plan today." I thought out loud.

"That's cuz it's a nice autumn afternoon genius." Aimflash sassed comically, "Plus there was nothing to do in the dorm…"

"So you guys going anywhere in particular?"

"Not really," Marcus shrugged, "Just, walkin'."

"Nothing wrong with that." I nodded, releasing my hold on Mal.

"For sure…" Aimflash trailed off as he looked to his right and nearly froze his voice circuits.

We all looked in that direction to find what I think is to be the source of what stopped the camera type cold. We saw a Valkyrie type medabot walking casually with her medafighter. It looked to be VAL-2 "Noel" based on the gold-colored protrusions coming from her thighs, shoulders, and helm. With the exception of a few points on her body, she had a predominantly emerald green and white color pallet with ruby eyes. One thing that confused me was that the model often carried around a huge weapon, but I guess she and her medafighter left it at home. I can now easily see why Aimflash froze, I must say that medabot looks really attractive; like she was just polished earlier today.

"Uh… Aim?" Marcus began, "You ok?"

Aimflash immediately floored it on his skated and dove behind a tree to stay outta sight. Ok… I'm not really sure if he's really infatuated or really scared, but the fact is he's not behaving normally anymore.

"Dude," Marcus asked, "What is up with you? It's just a medabot."

"Um, Marcus?" Mal started, "I think I know what's going on with Aimflash."

"Well now would be an excellent time to tell."

"He's head over heels for that medabot."

"He what?!"

Marcus spun around and picked up his limp medabot to put 'em back on his feet; seeing that he slowly sunk to a sitting position.

"Is that true?" Was all he could ask.

"Newsflash…" He mumbled hazily, "Camera type falls head over heels for stunning Valkyrie type… Must know her name he says…"

"Aw come on Aim, snap out of it."

Mal giggled as I joined in.

"I think it's a little too late for that." I said.

"I'll agree." Mal added, "I don't think there's anything you can do now Marcus."

He grumbled at our responses as Aimflash watched the Valkyrie type and her medafighter continue their walk, none the wiser of what was happening up here. Aimflash distractedly started rolling in their direction to follow them, until Marcus stopped 'em short.

"Oh no ya don't," He said, "You aren't skating off that easily."

"Must… know… her name…" Was all Aimflash mumbled as he skated in place.

Marcus sighed as he looked at both Mal and I's laughing.

"I'll catch you guys later." He said, "I gotta go dunk someone's head in the fountain."

Mal giggled again, "See you later Marcus."

I waved 'em both goodbye as Marcus picked up Aimflash and started carrying him in order to keep 'em from skating off. Mal and I only took one look at each other before breaking into more laughter.

"I gotta say," I sighed happily, "Life's sure been anything but boring with the people I have as friends."

"And me?" Mal asked, with a playful pleading in her eyes.

"And you."

We wrapped in each other's arms for a moment before getting up to continue our walk. We headed back to the campus a little while later to meet with Reno to get some training in and practice what we know. We've really overhauled our team skills in the few weeks we've been practicing together, and I think now we're even more of a force to be reckoned with than we were when we faced Alice's team a couple weeks ago. Speaking of which, Alice sure been acting weird lately. I dunno what the problem is exactly, but it's just the little things I've been noticing. Like last week I was walking right past her in the hallway and she completely blows me off like I didn't even exist. Then I heard that about three days later she did the same thing to Mal, only more like giving her the cold shoulder. I wanna see if there's something I can help with, but I have a feeling I'd be shot down faster than I'd be able to get in the air. Ahh, such is life. We practiced a new team maneuver for about an hour before reinforcing what techniques we already had down pat. Reno suggested that we stay as ambiguous as possible, but still know exactly what our teammates are doing and when; giving the advantage of surprise to us. I'll admit it's a great strategy, but that's my Bro for ya. After training we decided to sit down at a place to eat and relax. Mal however had a great idea when she suggested calling Marcus and Natalie to see if they'd wanna join us. I made a call to Marcus and he said that he needed a break from a certain love-struck medabot and said he'd meet us in front of the main gate. Mal finished a little later than I did, but then explained that she thought of someone else to invite so we'd have a party of six, though wouldn't tell me who it was until we met at the restaurant. We arrived in front of a place called the Whistle-Stop to find Bella waiting for us.

"Wait a minute," I said as I looked over at Mal, "Bella was the other one you called?"

"Why not?" She shrugged, "Bella told me she wasn't doing anything today and said she could meet us for a bite to eat."

"Hey all." Bella greeted, "What's up?"

"Um, not much." Marcus answered, "And you are?"

"Guys," Mal began, "This is my friend Bella. Bella, you already know Inyo and Natalie, but this is Inyo's brother Reno and our friend Marcus."

"Good to meet you guys." Bella grinned, "So any of you hungry?"

"You bet." Marcus replied, "What is this place anyway?"

"This is the Whistle-Stop. Best known for pretty much anything you can think of. Burgers, barbeque, steak, you name it and this place has it."

"Sounds good to me."

We headed in and were placed at a round table. I sat next to Mal, with Bella sitting on her other side. To my other side sat Marcus, and next to him Natalie. Reno took the open seat between Natalie and Bella as we looked at the menus to decide what to get. We started with drinks, and thankfully the server didn't look or seem like a Rubberobo… heh heh… as we continued scanning the choices for food.

"So uh, Bella." Marcus began, "Any recommendations for this place?"

"Depends on what flavor you're hungry for." She replied, "The Whistle Stop is best known for its Mainline Meat special, which is a burger with the works, with sides of fries and chili to go with it."

"Sounds like a hearty meal." Reno mused out loud, "But an interesting choice."

"It's what I order every time I eat here. If not that then I usually pick the Rib-eye Rattletrap."

I could see a look come across Reno's face. It was a look he only made when he was confused, but genuinely interested in something.

"Call me curious…" He said, "But what exactly is the reasoning behind the names for the meals?"

"Several of the restaurant's menu items are mostly based on the food menu available to railroad engineers during the era of World War II," Bella explained, "My Dad's a retired engineer, and after he retired he opened the Whistle-Stop for everyone to enjoy the food he was served when he was working on the rails."

"Interesting." Natalie grinned, "And would I be safe in assuming that you have a role here as well?"

"You'd be right," Bella smiled, "I usually work as a waitress here when I can to help with the rushes. Plus I know the lingo well, so I can easily understand what's being said by the chef and everyone else."

"Really." Reno answered, "I always thought the various lingos used in different jobs was really neat. It showed the individuality of the line of work quite well."

"For sure! I thought I was the only one that thought that way."

Both Reno and Bella shared a grin before looking back at the menus. Heh, I think my bro's found a girl based on what took place. I could be wrong, but that's what it looks like to me. Our waiter came back around and took our orders before heading back to the kitchen; though Bella had to translate the jargon of what we ordered into plain English that we could understand.

"I love this place…" Bella sighed, "Always felt like home away from home."

"Where're you from?" Marcus asked.

"Wyoming."

"Wow, that's a long way away from here."

"Pretty much the same as it is from here to Colorado." Reno shrugged, "If not a little further North."

Bella Perked up, "Wait, did you say Colorado?"

"Yup. Inyo and I were born and raised around the Silverton area."

"Ahh I'm so jealous!" Bella laughed, "I always wanted to see the Colorado Rockies and the Mudhens that ran through them."

"Um, Mudhens?" Mal repeated.

"Sorry, the steam locomotives that take tourists through the mountains. Back in the Golden Age the locomotives were called either Mudhens or Mikados, though the latter referred to the standard-gauge 2-8-2 locomotives; so the name Mudhens stuck for the narrow-gauge engines."

"Impressive," Reno complimented, "Yeah Inyo and I took a couple rides on the Silverton Train back when we were kids. Pretty nice ride, though I barely remember any of it since we were around ten years old at the time."

"Quit makin' me jealous already!" Bella laughed again, only giving Reno a playful punch to his shoulder, "You guys already have awesome names and experiences, you can quit rubbin' it in anytime now."

"Sorry," Reno chuckled, "I guess… wait, awesome names?"

"Well yeah. Inyo and Reno, referring to two steamers that travelled on the Virginia & Truckee railroad back in the Golden Age? And Truckee is your last name? Man you two are lucky as can be."

"Well uh, heh, Inyo and Reno are just acronyms for our full names; but I guess it is an interesting connection."

"More than interesting if you ask me."

Reno and Bella shared another look of contentment as the server returned with the first few plates of our food. I gotta say, this place isn't too bad. The burgers are good, and no one's complaining about their food, so I guess we all found a good place to hang out and grab a bite to eat. Eventually a rather large, bearded man dressed in denim overalls and white t-shirt came by to check on us.

"Evenin' folks," He greeted with a hearty tone, "Enjoyin' your meals I assume?"

"You bet Daddy." Bella grinned.

Reno perked up, "Daddy?"

"You got it. Guys, this is my Father. Daddy, these are my friends from College."

"Pleasure meetin' y'all." Mr. Farris smiled, "Any friends of my precious Isabella are friends of mine."

"Daaad…"

"What?"

"Quit callin' me things like that, it's embarrassing."

"Cut your ol'e Pa some slack Hun," He shrugged as he gave a laugh, "You know I love ya."

"And I love you too Dad."

We all shared a laugh.

"Well I gotta keep to my waybill on time if'n I'm gonna feed these hungry passengers." He finished, "But I thought that I'd slide onto a branch line to see how y'all were doin'."

"Well we're doing fine Mr. Farris." Reno grinned, "And the food's delicious."

"Well thanks my boy, does me good to hear compliments from the passengers here at the Whistle-Stop."

He then headed back for the kitchen as we finished our meals and pitched in for the bill. When we left the restaurant we found that it already was beginning to get dark, so we decided to head back to the campus to relax for the evening. Mal and I headed back ahead of the others, but I looked back only for a moment to catch a look at 'em. Marcus and Natalie seemed pretty content walking together, and farther back I could see Reno talking with Bella. Heh, looks like I was right. Now only time will tell if it's meant to be. Mal leaned into me as I turned my head back around to see her and hold her close.

"So," Mal began, "What'd you think?"

I glimpsed at her as we crossed the street, "Think of what?"

"Reno and Bella silly. Didn't you see the way they looked at each other?"

"So I wasn't the only one to notice."

"Of course not. But seriously though."

"Oh I understand. My first clue was when he had that look of interest in his face before our food arrived. Reno's pretty laid back and good at keeping a cool demeanor, but it's not often he opens up like he did back there."

"And Bella was the same way. She's ultra-casual in her speech pattern, once you can understand what she's saying that is, but she was really… I dunno… Content?"

"I noticed that too." I agreed, "I dunno about Bella exactly since I only met her the other day, but Reno I know for a fact was in a good mood."

"And it's the same with Bella for me," Mal giggled, "I knew Bella since we were five, so she and I are like sisters."

"Well then, so at least we know from both sides that there was something goin' on between Reno and Bella."

"For sure, I hope that it's meant to be."

"As long as my Bro's happy, then I'm perfectly fine with it."

"So am I." Mal sighed, "I don't think I've ever been this happy before either. I mean, in the few weeks I've known you and Reno, you guys have become something like family to me."

I couldn't help but turn a little red at her comment. I mean, Mal's become more than a friend in the few weeks we've known each other, someone I really cherish. Sure there's been one or two girls back home that liked me, but in all honesty the feeling wasn't really mutual. When Reno and I moved here from Colorado I thankfully was able to get a breath of relaxation and start in a brand new place. I looked back briefly to find that we lost the others some distance back. I guess they decided to go other ways. I really didn't care though. Mal was with me and that was all that mattered. It felt really good to have someone to stand up for and protect. We were interrupted from our moment by an all too familiar face.

"Well well, look who we have here." It laughed arrogantly.

Oh great… not this guy, not now. Go away…

Mal and I silently agreed to ignore him and keep walking. We passed right by Karlos and Cutter without making eye contact. So far no trouble, until we heard something embed itself in the wood post to our left. We jumped at the noise and looked to see that Karlos had thrown a Swiss-Army knife into the pole to get our attention.

"You know it's rude to ignore people." He chuckled.

"What do you want Karlos?" I said, standing in front of Mal.

"Well I'm afraid what I want doesn't come from you…"

He motioned for Mal, "What I want comes from her."

"Just spit it out!" I ordered, now getting defensive.

"A rematch. Alice's team tied with your sorry excuse for a team, and I wanna settle the score. Right here, right now."

Shoot, if this guy's serious then we're in trouble. Tonto and Shin Saber are in our dorms and nowhere near us. Plus we have no idea where the others are, so we can't look to them. At this point, we're hosed…

"Well I hate to disappoint," I said, trying to keep my cool, "But I'm afraid we can't oblige as of this time."

"And why's that?"

"Firstly because our medabots aren't here. Secondly if you wanna even any score, you'll have to take it to Reno since he's our team leader."

Karlos simply looked around and shrugged.

"Well I'm sorry to say," He said, "When my blood's pumpin' I gotta let it all out on whoever's closest; so you're it. And regarding the medabots… heh…"

He pulled out a knife from his pocked and flicked it open, "There're other ways we can solve our problems…"

This is getting bad. Karlos is wanting a knife fight, and those are some pretty dangerous things. Mal and I need to get outta here, but I have a feeling that Karlos isn't gonna let us leave without an exchanging of blows. My utmost priority is protecting Mal since Karlos has a bone to pick with her, but I don't want to enter a fight if there's another way out.

"What's the matter?" Karlos laughed, "Scared to fight me? Scared you'll lose? Maybe scared to get sliced? Well man up and face me, cuz if you don't now then it WILL be later. And it'll be when you aren't around to protect that pathetic, cowardly, wimp behind you."

This guy's really ticking me off. He already was on my list of people to stay away from since our team marathon robattle, and every time he's opened his mouth since then he's done nothing but stir chaos and start fights. I don't wanna start anything or get involved, but I don't want this jerk coming anywhere near Mal.

"So, what's it gonna be?" Karlos challenged, "You gonna take me on, or are you gonna step aside and let me take care of business?"

* * *

***Aimflash*- Ooooh…. Things are getting serious. WHY WAS I NOT THERE TO HELP?**

**Because you were at the dorms.**

***Aimflash*- … Oh yeah, that's right. Dang it… Anyway, rate and review peoples.**

**MORE MEDABOTS! MORE POWER!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Yo peoples! Aimflash here. Well after much pestering, Steamrail74 finally got around to posting the next chapter of New Beginnings for ya. With this said, you should be thanking me for all the fighting and pestering I did to get it here. Heh, kidding. Anywho… here's chapter 12 for you guys to enjoy.**

**Natsume claims credit for myself and Medabots, AproposFool89 for Alice Silverwind and Beta Reading, and Steam for everyone else.**

**Remember how I said I was kidding before about you guys thankin' me? Well you can do that by leavin' a review. I'm tellin' ya the more people that enjoy this fic, the more motivated Steam'll be to keep writin' it.**

**One more thing, this chapter's from my Point of View.**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

Ahh… I'm such a happy camper right now… well, sorta anyway. I caught a glimpse of the most beautiful bot I ever laid optics on, and then Chief had to go and ruin it for me by dunking my head in the park fountain. Yes, he actually did that for those who were curious. So it took a while to dry off, but when Chief left with the others to go hangout I eventually calmed down and chilled out with Ranger and Tonto. I'm still in a daze of sorts every time I think of that bot though, to be honest. Chief and Reno returned a short while ago and told us about the Whistle-Stop and their experiences there. Sounds like they all had a good time, and it seems to me that Chief's finally stepping forward in pursuing a relationship with Natalie. In all honestly I hope that they do end up being together, they really seem fit for each other. And then hearing about Reno and this Bella character, heh heh, I think there's a love bug going around if ya ask me. We all found things to do after that, and about thirty minutes later we heard a knock at the door. Chief got up to answer, and then I think I almost watched 'em leap back and start babbling like an idiot. He have a very panicked look on his face, and I have a very bad feeling that it's not very good whatever he saw. I skated around the corner and pretty much freaked out myself. Mallory was supporting Inyo with one arm around her shoulders, and his other arm was stained red with a couple rips in the shirt. Holy cow… HOLY COW HOLY COW HOLY COW HOLY COW INYO'S BEEN INJURED! WHAT DID THIS TO 'EM? WHO? HOW? WHY? WHEN? Reno rushed onto the scene and I could tell he almost went hysterical too, but did his best to keep a cool head. He helped Mallory guide Inyo to the couch and lay him down so he could tend to the wound.

"Holy cow Inyo!" Chief exclaimed when he could finally speak coherently, "What happened to you?"

"It's… nothing." He winced in pain as Reno started cleaning the cuts and excess blood, "Just a scratch."

"Inyo, stop lying and tell them what happened!" Mallory wailed, "You can't just cover this up and shrug it off! Karlos really hurt you."

WHAT?! You mean that crazy guy with the blade type? I never realized he was a psycho, but I guess ya learn new things every day. Whatever the case, this is not cool! No one messes with MY pals and gets away with it!

"Karlos?" Chief repeated, and then knitted his eyebrows together, "What'd he do? Aim and I'll tear 'em apart!"

"Marcus, please." Mallory begged, "There's no need. The deed's already done."

"Well then if you can," Reno finished, "Could you please tell us what happened?"

Mallory looked like she was about to start the waterworks any second now. This is bad… whatever happened to these two really must've been something huge. I looked up at Chief.

"It'd be a good idea to find a school nurse." I said, "Reno looks like he cleaned it up nicely, but I'd feel a little better to have a professional take a look."

"I agree." Chief answered as we headed for the door, "We'll be back in a flash. Let's go Aim."

"I'm right behind ya Chief."

We dashed down the stairs and through the hall for the nurse's office. There was an NAS-1 'Saintnurse' walking across the way and greeted us.

"Can we help you?" She asked.

"Our friend was just injured somehow," Chief explained between breaths, "He's in our dorm right now, but is there someone that can come back with us and check 'em?"

"What's the type of injury?"

"I dunno exactly, but he had a trail of blood going down his left arm from a really bad cut. I guess it was like a fight or something, so we need someone to help 'em out."

"Oh, yes. One moment."

She disappeared and returned a moment later with one of the medical staff. The Doc followed us back to our room to find everyone right as we left 'em; though Inyo was trying to say that he was fine and would be better in the morning. The Doc sat Inyo back down and looked his wound over carefully, and thanked Reno for cleaning up the wound as best he could. He finished about ten minutes later, though was unsuccessful in finding out what happened and how he was attacked. The Doc then left us alone in the room and headed back to the nurse's office. Eventually everyone calmed down enough to try and reach an understanding of what happened. We all sat down in the main living area and each took breaths to calm down.

"Alright," Reno began, "Inyo, Mallory, would one of you care to explain what happened?"

"There's no need to Reno." Inyo sighed, "I'm fine."

"No you're not Inyo Truckee!" Mallory cried, "Please, these are our friends and your brother, we can talk to them."

"If it's us spreading the news to the others you're worried about," I chimed in, "Then you don't have to worry. Our voices are sworn to silence."

Inyo still seemed defiant, so Mallory took the ball in her court as she breathed in and out.

"We were on our way back from the Whistle-Stop." She explained, "I guess we lost track of you guys on the way, but right before we made it back to the campus we were confronted by Karlos. He said he wanted to settle whose team was really the best, since our teams tied in that marathon robattle, and challenged me to a fight. Inyo stepped forward to protect me, but after failing to persuade Karlos otherwise, he challenged Inyo to a knife fight. Inyo did his best to avoid Karlos's attacks, but Karlos cut along Inyo's arm the one second he was distracted, resulting in the wound he has now."

Dang… This Karlos is sounding more and more like a psychotic nutcase the more I listen to this. I really feel bad that they had to go through that, but I guess with Hannibal Lector on your tail there's not really much choice. We really gotta tell someone about this, we can't just let it go unsaid and let that Karlos guy run around unpunished.

"We gotta tell the Dean about this," Chef said, reading my mind, "Karlos has to pay for what he did to Inyo."

"What's the point?" Inyo returned, "He's not gonna do anything because it wasn't on College grounds, so he has no responsibility to take hold of."

He… had a point… unfortunately.

"He's right Kemosabe." Tonto agreed, "There would be little use telling someone who can do nothing to help."

"I would love to wrangle that snake though." Ranger mused out loud.

You and me both Ranger. I looked up at Chief, and he had the same feeling as I did. This cannot, and will not, go unpunished if Chief and I have anything to say about it! Just wait 'til we see that guy's ugly mug again. POW! Straight to the moon! And his medabot to the scrapyard! And maybe we'll send headstones with 'em if we're nice enough. I know I'm probably exaggerating, but still, no one messes with MY friends! Mallory stuck around for about another hour before Reno convinced her to head back to her dorm; saying that Inyo would be fine tomorrow. She reluctantly agreed, though when she said goodnight to 'em, Inyo said nothing. Mallory then left us alone in our dorm.

"Dude," I started, "What's wrong with you?! Mallory was sayin' goodnight to ya, and you just gave her the cold shoulder!"

Inyo tried to speak, but then shut up and headed for his and Reno's room.

"What was that about?" Chief asked.

"Inyo's had a rough evening." Reno answered, "Let' give him some space and we'll try talking to 'em tomorrow."

Chief and I hesitantly agreed as we headed to our room. I could see a huge look of angst and irritation in his face as he changed into some sleep shorts and tried to get comfortable. It was about fifteen minutes later that Chief's phone buzzed. He picked it up and answered.

"Hello?" He asked.

I could hear some muffled murmuring.

"Whoa, Natalie, calm down. Yes, Inyo's been injured, but he's fine now. Aim and I grabbed the Doc and brought 'em back to check on 'em. The Doc cleaned up the wound and said he'd be fine. Yes we heard the story from Mal."

There was more mumbling.

"I know, I'm worried too. But Reno suggested that we give Inyo some space until he's ready to talk. In the meantime try and keep near Mal and be there for her. I'll do the same for Inyo when I can. Ok, sounds good. See you tomorrow."

He hung up and put his phone back on the charger.

"Natalie?" I asked.

"Yup," He returned, "She was as hysterical as we were when Mal told her what happened."

"So what's the plan Chief?"

He was silent.

"…I honestly don't know Aim," He sighed, "I like to think that I always have a plan, but then when situations like this come up I always draw a total blank."

"Well the most important thing to remember is that we can't let this bring us down. We gotta try and stay positive."

"Got that right Aim. Well I'm gonna hit the sack, so I'll see ya in the morning."

"Sleep well Chief."

He turned out the lights as we both called it a night. Whatever may happen tomorrow, I can only hope that it'll turn out better than tonight.

The next morning, Chief slept in since it was a Saturday. That's normally his plan of action on weekends, sleep 'til noon and then relax the rest of the day. Reno, Ranger, and Tonto were awake in the main living area when I entered the hallway.

"Mornin' guys." I greeted, "Sleep well?"

"Considering what took place last night," Ranger answered, "Not really, but Reno and Inyo slept enough."

"Inyo still sleeping?"

"I've no idea. He was when the three of us left the room about forty-five minutes ago, but right now I don't know."

Poor guy… I wish there was something I, or any of us, could do to help 'em feel better. I looked in the kitchen to find Reno working on something for breakfast, though I couldn't really see what exactly. I decided to take a stroll around the campus since Chief wouldn't be up for at least another hour or so, so I left the dorm and headed for the main gate. It was there that I saw Mallory sitting by herself under one of the trees. She didn't see me, but I skated over to say hey; and by the looks of it she could use a friendly face.

"Yo Mallory," I greeted, "What's happenin?"

"Hey Aimflash," She sighed, "Nothing much."

"Somethin' up?"

I saw her hesitate to tell me for a moment.

"More or less." She said finally, "Just had a rough night is all."

"Same story here to be honest."

Mallory then looked at me pleadingly, "Have you heard from Inyo at all this morning?"

"Sorry Mallory," I shrugged, "Haven't seen hide nor hair of 'em since last night."

I watched her face fall. Darn it, I really wish I did see Inyo so she wouldn't be like this.

"What am I gonna do Aimflash?" She whimpered, "I tried texting him last night, but I haven't heard back yet. I'm beginning to think he's ignoring me."

"Aw come on," I interrupted, "No need to think like that. I really doubt he's ignoring ya."

"What makes you say that?"

"If you're askin' me then there is a problem."

"W…What?"

"Think about how you two were last night before that whole fiasco took place. What was goin' on?"

"We were on our way back from the restaurant."

"And?"

"And what?"

I sighed, man I gotta do something to perk this girl up or things between 'em are goin' down the tubes.

"Did anything happen between the two of ya?" I asked, "Did you two say anything to each other? Or anything in general?"

"Well…" Mallory thought, "The last thing I told Inyo before Karlos showed up was that I saw him and his brother like family, and him more so."

"Did he say anything back?"

"Not out loud, but I know what he was thinking when I said that."

"And?"

"I know that we shared our feelings for each other, but now I'm beginning to wonder…"

I can't take much more of this. Inyo and Mallory were made for each other, and if one little incident is gonna make 'em doubt that this much then they're in trouble.

"Look," I said, "If that's what you honestly truly believe that's what he said silently, then ya got nothing to worry about. Inyo's a great guy, and has great morals, so I really doubt that a little bitty thing like what happened last night would make him suddenly start ignoring ya."

I could see that she was a little taken back by my comment, but I had to say somethin'. And I know for a fact I wasn't lying either.

"Thanks Aimflash." She smiled at last, "I feel a little better now."

"Well then my job is complete." I nodded, "I'll tell ya this though, if you still feel that he's not talkin' to ya on purpose, then do stuff that would make 'em see that as his girlfriend you aren't to be ignored."

"Like what kind of things?"

"I dunno. Ask if he wants to hang out, go do something in town, I have no clue."

"What if he says he doesn't want to?"

"Then go get 'em anyway. Persistence will show your faithfulness."

She was silent as she stood up from her spot.

"I'll go see what I can do." She said finally, with a small grin on her face, "Thanks again Aimflash, you really are a sweet medabot."

"Ahh, anything to help a friend out."

She then started off for our dorm as I watched her disappear into the main building. Well, I made someone feel better today, so that's already a good start. I only hope that things between Inyo and Mallory will turn for the better soon. As she was no longer in sight I decided that since I was already out I'd go and skate through the park. Seeing the pathways void of any people on 'em only made my excitement grow, cuz now I could speed-skate it as fast as I wanted. Woo how I loved to speed-skate! I floored it as I dove into the park and followed the path at a good speed. I guess I could add this as part of my training since I needed to keep my speed up anyway. I carved the curves and practiced my slides and full drifts on the rounded sections of the pathway for about fifteen minutes, and then skidded to a halt in the main square to take a breather. Ahh that felt so good… haven't done a speed-skate in FOREVER! Heh, I was beginning to think I was getting rusty, but I guess I have nothing to worry about. It was about that moment that I head someone applauding from behind me. I turned back and almost fell over at seeing that Valkyrie type from yesterday. The difference this time was that I was able to make out more detail on her as she stopped applauding. Turns out that she had neither her weapon nor her shield on her; I guess she was just on a casual stroll.

"Impressive control," She said, "But I should expect nothing less from a wheel-legged type."

"Well uh... thanks," I shrugged, doing my best to keep my cool, "Just comes with practice."

"No doubt."

Silence took place for a moment as I tried to keep myself from going nuts.

"So," I began, "What brings a pretty Valkyrie type like yourself out here in the park today?"

D'oh… I CANNOT believe I just said that. I'm gonna look like a total idiot now…

"Pretty you say?" She repeated, "I would prefer elegant, but how sweet."

Wait… what? Did she just say that? Was I not imagining it?

"But to answer your question," She continued, "I just felt like taking a walk by myself. Feels good every once in a while, you know?"

"For sure." I agreed, "It's a great feeling."

"What's your name?"

"Aimflash, but Chief calls me Aim. You?"

"Noel. Just, Noel."

"Sounds nice to me."

"Well thanks."

More silence took place as I looked over at the fountain and was thankful that Chief wasn't here.

"How about you keep me company for a short walk?" Noel asked as she started for the path.

Shoot, she did NOT just say that.

"Uhm, sure." I answered as I followed after her.

"So tell me," Noel began, "How has training been going for your team? With you being your team's leader and all."

"Well… Hmm… it's nothing really special since I'm used to leading teams. But I'll say that things certainly got easier since Trigger left."

She sighed at the name.

"I can only wish that I could say the same." Noel shrugged, "See, Calhoun and Chuu were on OUR team before the change, and they were our team leaders."

"Ouch…"

"For sure. Now that imbecile thinks that he can assume leadership and take control, but Dante and Bella made their responses to that notion quite clear, with me and Charge to back them up."

I was glad that Trigger was gone, but it he's causing trouble for the other teams then I kinda wish he was back with us.

"Sorry to hear things have been tough." I said.

"Don't worry about it," She returned, "It's not your issue. Honestly I also wish he would make up his mind on which bot to choose out of either Wild Harry OR Gun Desperado."

"How's that an issue?"

"He says that both guns need to be on the team of three, so that means either I have to sit out or Charge does, and I have a feeling Charge is gonna be given the boot."

"What makes you say that?"

I honestly haven't met Charge yet, but I'm kinda feelin' bad for 'em at this point.

"Let's just say that he's not too bright when it comes to basic understanding." Noel explained, "It takes some getting used to, but he has an understanding of things different than the others, so unless we communicate and make sure we're on the same page, he'll often go and do his own thing; thinking that he's helping the team out."

"Ah, I see." I responded, "How's that strategy been workin' for ya?"

"Well that depends. Before Trigger or after?"

"I dunno."

"Well before he was put in our team, we had a pretty good understanding. After, we basically lost it when those two idiot popguns started ruining things."

"Ouch…"

"Ah well," She sighed, "I'm sure we'll pull something of a team through when the tournament come in a few weeks."

It was about that moment that Chief buzzed me.

"Aim?" He called, "Aim, you there?"

"I'm here Chief," I answered, "Finally awake I see."

"You know I like sleepin' in on weekends. Anyway, where are ya? I asked Reno and he said you went for a walk."

"I AM on a walk. Do ya need me for somethin'?"

"I might, but I dunno yet."

"Either ya do or ya don't, what's the plan?"

"Well I WAS going to ask Natalie out and wanted to see if you'd stick around for Inyo while I was gone. Reno said that he had to take the twin bots on a quick maintenance run in town and wouldn't be back for about an hour."

Darn it… Chief put me in a really annoying situation right now. I wanted to stay and talk more with Noel, but at the same time I wanted to be there for Inyo. And then Chief goes and tells me that he was goin' out with Natalie. Arrrrgh… really stuck with a hard decision at the moment… But I know what I gotta do.

"Alright," I said, "Gimme about ten minutes and I'll be right over."

"Thanks Aim."

"Laters."

I turned to Noel.

"Sorry," I sighed, "I gotta split."

"Don't worry about it." She returned casually, "Gotta go when duty calls. I did enjoy hanging out with you though. We should do it again soon."

Wait… Did… Did she REALLY just say that? Am I dreaming? Was I imagining it?

"S-sure thing." I responded, "I uh… I'd love to."

"Great. Tomorrow sound good? Same time?"

This is getting better and better.

"Sure. So, see ya tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

Before I left however, I just HAD to get this as I turned to Noel again.

"Hey Noel?" I asked.

She turned to face me, "Yes?"

"Say cheese."

She made a cutesy pose as I snapped the picture with my viewfinder and then stated off for the campus. Newsflash, camera type officially meets stunning Valkyrie type, meeting goes well and agrees to meet again tomorrow. Ahh I am such a happy camper right now. Unfortunately, due to my blissful mood, I skated headfirst into another bot as both of us fell over. Ugh… I really need to watch where I'm goin'. The other bot however seems as stunned as I was, though I was a little surprised by his design. He was predominantly blue in color with gold accents. His head was a little hard to make out, but his right arm was shaped like a giant lamp. His left arm as a claw-like hand that he used at this time to rub his head, and his leg part was really tiny. At least, the solid part of it anyway; a majority of his leg was a red carpet-like thing.

"Wowzers…" He mumbled, "That was nothing under surprising."

"Sorry," I answered as I rose to my feet, "I was a little distracted."

"Ah don't worry 'bout it. Happens to everybody."

"You need a hand?"

"Nope, I can take care of it."

He then started levitating as the carpet went stiff and lifted him off the ground.

"Thanks for the offer though." He finished, and then noticed me stare at his leg part in awe, "What? Never seen a floating carpet before?"

"Sure haven't." I responded.

"Ha ha, well now you have. What's your name friend?"

"I'm Aimflash, but call me Aim."

"Ifrit Nine," He bowed, "But call me Nine, or Ifrit, or Hey You, or whatever."

"Nice to meet ya Nine." I nodded.

"Likewise Friend."

"So what do you do?" I asked, curious to how he was in combat.

"Do as in what?" Nine asked, "As in every day?"

"No no, I mean as in a robattle."

"Ahh, I see. Well to put it simply, and generally since you and I'll be opponents in the tourney, let's just say that I certainly leave my opponent's defenseless in my style of robattle."

Wow, I'm not sure whether to be worried or what right now. But then I suddenly remembered that Chief was still waiting on me and I had to get back to the dorm.

"Interesting." I said, "Well I gotta split for the Theodra Beryl dorms, so I'll have to catch ya later Nine."

"Farewell Aim my friend," He waved as I snapped a quick picture of 'em with my viewfinder, "Hope to see you later."

I skated off for the dorms from there. And something I recently decided, I was going to snap pictures of all Chief and I's friends so we always had pictures of them for any time we'd need 'em. Chief headed out the door to our dorm and let me in to close it behind me about three minutes later when I arrived. Sure enough the dorm was empty with the exception of Inyo sitting on the couch playing with his phone. He looked to be feeling better, but I guess I won't know 'til I ask.

"Yo Inyo," I greeted, "What's up?"

"Nothing much," He returned, sounding more and more in a better mood, "You?"

"I've kept busy this mornin', you feelin' any better?"

"If you exclude the stinging in my arm, then yeah I'm feelin' a little better."

Yes! That was the response I was hoping for.

"That's good to hear," I said, "So you hear from Mallory?"

"She left about five minutes ago actually." Inyo replied, "And…"

Uh-oh… I don't like the sound of that.

"And… what?" I asked.

"I had a serious apology to give her for how I acted yesterday when she pushed that hard from me to get medical attention." He sighed.

"And, how'd that go?"

"Better than I expected. Mal's really a great and understanding girl. I was just upset last night that I failed to protect her and myself from that jerk Karlos."

"Dude, relax will ya? You protected Mal when ya stood between her and Karlos, and when the going got rough you stepped to the challenge and did your best. Sure you got scratched a little, but is there anything on Mallory? No."

"I know, but-"

"But nothin'!" I interrupted as I pointed my viewfinder at 'em, "YOU were there, and YOU protected HER. You did what you were aiming to do, so you should be proud."

I stumped 'em as he let out another sigh.

"I guess you're right." He agreed after a moment, "I was just too hard on myself, but I suppose that happens when you have a girl you wanna protect."

"Can't understand that personally, but it sounds right to me."

We shared a laugh as he got up to stretch. Well it's good to hear that Inyo's feelin' better, both in body and in mind, and even better to hear that Inyo and Mallory's relationship isn't in danger. We killed time talking about random things for about an hour before Reno returned with Ranger and Tonto with 'em. Marcus didn't return yet. But if he's out with Natalie like he said he was, then I'm in no rush to have 'em back here as long as those two are going somewhere with a relationship with each other. I got up and head to Chief and I's room when I realized that I had a server address exchange request in my mainframe. Funny, I don't remember seeing a request pending, but I guess I must've done something to hide my notifications from view. I turned 'em back on and accepted the request as the first message came in.

"Hey Aim." It said.

Ok…? This is weird, this bot already knows me.

"Um, who's this?" I responded.

"You don't remember me already? That's hurtful… And here I thought that I'd be able to chat with you via server messaging…"

Alright… this is getting weirder by the second. I apparently offended this bot now as I decided to run a quick trace to whose server address this actually was. I was surprised to find that it belonged to a VAL-2, and then it suddenly hit me who I was talking to.

"Noel?" I messaged, "Is that you?"

"Course it's me," She replied, "Glad to see you finally came around."

"Ok, but how'd you get my server address? I didn't even know I had the exchange request until just now."

"I sent a delayed request, so you wouldn't get in until after we parted ways anyway. So, that aside, what's up?"

"Oh nothin' much, just chillin' out in the dorms."

"Sounds cool."

"Sure is."

I chatted with Noel until Chief finally returned about an hour later. He told me he had, as he phrased it so casually, 'a good time'. But the blush on his cheeks when I inquired for more details told me that it was more than a simple 'good time'. I honestly feel good about it though, so I have a good feeling that I'll win Natalie and I's bet. Christmas however is only three months away though, but what am I worried about? There's plenty of time. So let's see what we've got here thus far if I think about it… at least how I see things now. Chief and Natalie, Reno and Bella, and Inyo and Mallory. Hmm, so far it seems to be going well. One of those three pairings is correct, so I can only hope that by Christmas I'll be correct on all three… cuz I assure you, a camera never lies.

* * *

**-Aimflash- Heh, well I'm glad that things turned around for the better… and I got to finally meet my dream girl bot… ahhh…**

**-Sherlock- Umm… Master Aimflash?**

**-Aimflash- DON'T YOU JUDGE ME!**

**-Sherlock- Oh, well… I wasn't. I was only going to remind you that the readers are here reading this.**

**-Aimflash- … Dang it… You guys didn't see anything! Anyway… uh… Rate and review. And until then, laters! *leaves***

**-Sherlock- Master Aimflash, wait for me!**

**Ugh… Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to let the person or bot telling the chapter be the one to introduce it… At least, in Aim's case anyway. Well as Aim said, rate and review.**

**MORE MEDABOTS! MORE POWER!**


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